The Grey Templar 2
by starspawn07
Summary: Zeratul continues his search for Xel'Naga artifacts. Xover Starcraft and Star Wars. The last chapter has been rewritten to make it smoother. Please R&R :
1. The Crystal

**The Grey Templar 2**

By Starspawn07

Foreword

Yup, waiting for Starcraft 2 to come out is quite an agonizing affair for fans such as we ( especially ones who keeps the obsession to themselves most of the time, like I do ). I could draw, but writing fanfic is the most convenient XD

I have the rough plot in mind already, but I am still rather occupied, so don't expect this to be updated and concluded as fast as the last one.

Some things will stay the same : 1. there will be no romantic or gender related themes. 2. My fanfics do not adhere to canon, so if you can't identify certain elements in the story with Star Wars or Starcraft, then they are most likely all made up . And 3. I do not own any of the characters or plot devices I write about.

Star Wars is the brainchild of director George Lucas.

The StarCraft series is the product of game developer Blizzard Entertainment.

Now on to the Story:

**The Crystal**

"Master ! Master !" A familiar voice rang throughout the cavern, and Jedi master Farid awoke from hours of meditation.

He looked around for the source of the voice. Actually, he could feel it approaching, though having lived and witnessed 200 years of conflict and intrigue, he now trusted nothing but his own eyes. Sometimes, even the Force misleads.

He sat in the middle of a 4 metre tall cavern with black, corrugated walls, accessed by three round tunnels, each roughly the height of one average man. From the tunnel directly in front of him, faint white daylight shone in and reflected off the surfaces of the various crystals which encrusted the walls, floor and ceiling of the cavern, giving the primitive dwelling a glittering, surreal atmosphere.

Presently, against the dim white light of the cave entrance there appeared a tall figure with fiery red hair, tied into a small braid at one side, wearing similar brown robes as Farid, only newer and less droopy.

The young man rushed to kneel excitedly before Farid and from his belt he detached a small device shaped like a foot long, inch wide metal cylinder, fluted like the hilt of a straight sword.

"Look, master, I did it ! I made a new light sabre !" He grinned proudly and held out his handiwork for Farid to see.

"Very impressive, Kart." Stroking his long white beard and trying to hide his own excitement at his apprentice's latest achievement, Farid took the light sabre and examined it closely, turning it over and over to take in every fine detail that was visible under the faint light. Admiration for the boy's skill was augmented by the feeling of a strange power emanating from the cylinder he held in his hand.

Then something towards one end of the cylinder caught his eye, and all three black eyes narrowed as he scrutinized a small sky-blue crystal encased within the focus unit of the hilt. It gave off a shimmering blue glow. As he ran his thumb over it, he felt a connection with the Force in a manner which he had never felt before.

Kart raised a nervous eyebrow and the broad grin on his face faded a little.

"You didn't find this crystal within the Caves." Farid stared into Kart's eyes, and the latter felt as if his Master was looking straight into his soul.

"Um… uh … yes, I mean … I bought it." Kart stared back with a sheepish smile.

"You what ???" Farid jerked back his shiny bald head.

"See the guy found this thing near an old temple, and … uh … couldn't find much use for it so he offered to sell it to me. The transaction was legal I promise." Feeling bolder at the end of the confession, he added. "I don't understand, Master. Why are Jedi discouraged from trade ?"

"Our principles are what makes us true Jedi, my young Padawan." Farid sank back to his thinking posture and pretended to ignore the crystal.

Inwardly, he sighed. The younger generation was much harder to bring up than it used to be. Now they always questioned, they must always satisfy their curiosity and their love of novelty, never content with protocol and routine.

Still, Kart was immensely gifted. The very fact that he recognized the force potential within the crystal and incorporated it into his first personal weapon, was telling. Kart had grown in the Force

and creativity too, which a lot of Knights lacked nowadays.

If only he could temper his impulsivities and passions just a little bit …

"So, can I go read the Black Book ? A little peep ?" Kart pleaded.

Farid's white eyebrows twisted into a mild, exasperated frown."No, only a highly experienced master can be allowed to access the Dark Holocrons. Great knowledge comes with a price. Have I not told you many times about the dangers of falling to the Dark Side ?"

"'Cos it makes you more powerful ?" Kart crossed his arms.

"It is a path of no return." Farid muttered and closed his eyes, going over a list of Jedi who would have been a more suitable mentor for Kart.

"So it's back to good old pure and holy Jedi training then." Kart turned his head and pouted. The fire of passion in his dark green eyes was replaced by the dim ember of boredom and resignation.

For a while, Farid fiddled with the light sabre, then handed it back to Kart and spoke in his usual calm, serious tone. "Not exactly… We are going to find this temple you mentioned."

-

( That's all for tonight. I have a terrible headache right now.

Suggestions are very much appreciated

Starspawn07 )


	2. Trial and Terror

**Trial and Terror**

Under the grey overcast sky, a gigantic, nine metre tall stone ring covered in veins and sheets of tarnished bronze sat on top of a large stepped stone platform lined with bands of bronze and copper, in the middle of a vast, empty, snow covered valley, surrounded by black mountains and nothing else.

In front of this ancient, mysterious structure there stood a three – metre tall humanoid being with digitigrade feet, wrapped in red and black robes, and a flowing grey cape, except on the upper part of its face, where it was pulled back to reveal grey scaly skin and heavy brow ridges, scarred with age, under which two large eyes glowed dim blue. It wore a stiff frown on its face, as if in deep concentration, and stood dead still, ignoring the chilling wind which tugged and brushed violently at its garments.

In its gloved, four fingered hands it held out a small translucent crystal, violet in colour with hints of swirling iridescence within, and rhombic in structure, with vertices broken off here and there. Staring forward, the light in its eyes flickered, and every time the blue glow became intensely bright, the crystal in its hands emitted a shocking flash of violet light, and at the same time, a blue white spark emerged in the bottom of the stone ring and twisted its way to the top, where it was absorbed into a blue diamond set into the structure. Smaller crystals which formed nodes among the intricate carvings on the stone platform below glowed and dimmed in perfect synchronisation.

The thick grey clouds in the sky above began to churn and swirl, as if a terrible hurricane was being formed. The sparks within the ring became more frequent, until they blurred and overlapped into sheets of blue white light, which shimmered like the surface of clear water under bright sunlight.

Zeratul lowered the hybrid crystal in his hands and gasped frantically for air. The blue glow in his eyes shifted to a dimmer purple. The activation of the Warp Gate had taxed him greatly, and he hoped that whatever lay beyond this portal was worth it. It had to be worth it. There was no turning back now. He was approaching the edge of known settled space, and it would be months before he could find another significant Xel'Naga relict like this.

He removed both his gloves to reveal a light bone-grey gauntlet in each hand. On the back of the palm, a mild ridge ran from the wrist to the point between the base of the second and third digits, where it ended in a small concave black crystal set deep into the ridge.

At his whim, a thin, translucent and ethereal thread of light flickered into existence from each black crystal and extended forward parallel to the forearm, tapering to a point like straight long flame as it reached a metre in length.

He swung his dual warp blades around at an imaginary target, then satisfied that his main weapon was working properly, he raised his invisible plasma shield, and stepped through the inter-dimensional threshold created by the Warp Gate…

And beheld a bleak landscape of nothing but snow and black mountains, under a grey overcast sky.

Zeratul blinked and stared bewildered at what appeared to be a cruel joke the Xel'Naga had played on him. He looked back towards the side of the Warp Gate from which he had come, then forward at the realm he had just stepped into, then backward and forward many times until a whirling and sizzling noise warned him that the gate was about to shut down, and he instinctively leapt forward onto the snowy ground below just as the shimmering exit of the wormhole broke down and evaporated into thin air.

Zeratul raised his warp blades and slashed the snow around his feet in frustration, sending up wisps of mist where the blades tore thin gashes into the ground. The thought of spending another week attempting to open a second warp gate by oneself would have driven a younger Protoss to the brink of insanity, if the latter could even figure out how to activate a warp with nothing but a mystical crystal at all.

It was then that he realized that instead of a valley, he was standing on a small plateau. Smooth black mounds and spires of various sizes jutting out of the snow here and there revealed the nature of the underlying rocks from which the plateau was formed. Spaced evenly round the sides of the plateau, three clusters of the black stone outcrops rose and converged into three titanic pillars which curved in over and towards the centre of the plain, where Zeratul and the warp gate stood, and ended in weirdly shaped knobs whose exact structures were obscured by the mist overhead.

_Come_…

Zeratul's body tensed with excitement at the faint voice which seemed to call to him from the ground beneath him.

_Descend … _

Zeratul climbed up the stone platform and looked around towards the edges of the plateau for a safe path down its cliffs. Gazing into the near distance from the other side of the warp gate, he saw where the line of black spires and mounds parted into a clearing which turned into a ramp leading down the side the of the plateau.

Without hesitation, he hopped down the platform and dashed forwards across the snowy plain.

Down and down the ramp he ran, stopping only where the exposed rock on the walls of the cliff revealed faint, weird relieves. It seemed that whoever built that warp gate eons ago had left these carvings as well. Zeratul inspected them for clues as to their identity and purpose, checked for hidden mechanisms, but they were too worn and weathered through the ages to yield anything useful now.

Then right ahead the cliff wall caved in and Zeratul realized that he had come to the entrance of a tunnel leading deep within the plateau.

Now Zeratul stood outside the tunnel and a pang of doubt welled up in him. The tunnel had an oval cross-section so that despite its width, its smooth black walls, corrugated and ribbed, seemed to press in from the sides, as far as he could see. Beyond that lay the black, unknown interior. Above the tunnel entrance someone had carved the relief image of what appeared to be a giant octopus like creature, whose tentacles draped over and around the tunnel mouth.

Had he finally reached the objective of his year long sojourn ? Or was he being led towards a terrible doom ?

_Enter …_

No matter, he thought as he took a step forward. If all else failed, he could just disappear, literally.

-

"You can go now. The Force be with you." With a wave of his hand, Farid dismissed his guide.

The latter spun round, walked hurriedly away from the tunnel entrance without looking back, and vanished behind a faraway clump of rocks.

"Hmm, I expected something grander." Kart sighed.

"Grandness is in the eye of the beholder. " Said the figure standing on Farid's other side. He had black hair with streaks of white tied into a ponytail. Two long barbells protruded from below the chin of an otherwise human-like face. He wore a white robe over a black tunic and pants. He caught Kart's surprised gaze and winked.

Jedi Knight Enri had been an enigma to others in the order. Sometimes he showed a strong aversion to violence, but in battle, he was feared by even the Sith. After weeks of abstinence, he would indulge in laughter and revelry. Despite having served in the order for longer than most Masters, he refused to take an apprentice, saying to the utter bewilderment of his peers that his tutelage would not make a difference anyway. Noone knew where he came from, what he did before he joined the Jedi, and he kept a low enough profile that few bothered to ask.

"External appearances can be deceiving."Farid drew his companions' attentions back to their current surroundings.

The brownish carven image of a monstrous insect with long spikes protruding from its back and legs sat on top of the tunnel entrance. The spikes ran in messy lines around the sides of the tunnel mouth and seemed to continue inwards, where they mingled and transitioned into the still menacing stalagtites and stalagmites growing teeth-like from the ceiling, walls and floor.

"What do you think, Enri ?" Farid turned toward his friend. Farid met Enri on this icy planet when the former had been sent to establish the new Jedi headquarters on this border world. On his invitation, Enri joined the order and the two had been close comrades ever since. To Farid, his friend had lived here forever and been a powerful wielder of the Force since the Sages knew when. It did not matter though. Enri's astounding knowledge, cheerful personality, and devotion to the order more than made up for his reluctance to reveal his origins.

"I sense an overwhelming presence …" Enri made a few exaggerated gestures of deep thought. " … which means, … it is time for action!" The white robed pointed his light sabre hilt forward in a manner which caused Kart to keel over in uncontrollable laughter.

Shaking his head, Farid slowly and cautiously entered the tunnel.

Still holding his hilarious combat-ready posture, Enri followed close behind, while Kart walked by his side, hands on his lightsabre and keen eyes scanning the tunnel excitedly for signs of danger.

As the tunnel grew darker, the natural spiky protrusions were getting larger and more numerous, and Enri raced to Farid's side, gripping the hilt of his weapon more tightly. A bright, blue white rod of light shot out from the outer end of the hilt and extended a metre into the air with a faint hum, flooding their surroundings with a faint blue glow.

Using this newer source of illumination, the trio walked on for a few minutes. Then, Farid was aware of a sudden disturbance in the ground beneath them.

"Kart !"

The young Jedi felt the disturbance as well, for he leapt up with all his strength and gripped the nearest stalagtite which he could reach with his hands.

Below him, where he stood just milliseconds ago, the ground cracked and broke as a huge black spine burst through the surface and thrust up two metres into the air.

Hanging precariously to the ceiling, Kart stared down in horror. Then he felt the stalagtite which he was holding onto shake and recede into the surrounding rock. "Oh crap."

With blinding speed, Enri dashed up to the spine and swung his light sabre across it, slicing it off near the base and kicking it away just as Kart fell and landed on the spot where he would have been impaled had Enri not come to the rescue.

Immediately, Kart rolled to his feet and switched on his own lightsabre, looking round for any clues as to what had just happened. "Wow … what was that ?"

Farid reached out through the Force and was answered with a sense of aggression and lethal intent rushing towards him. "Beware ! It is coming for us !" The Jedi master shouted as he reached for his own light sabre.

Both Kart and Enri leapt away from each other as a roll of similar spines sprang up in a line between them, throwing up stone and dust as the line sped towards where Farid was standing.

Calmly, Farid stepped to one side, and ran along the line of spines, pointing his ignited lightsabre towards where the bases of the spines continued underground. The purple rod of light tore through the ground.

An inhuman roar shook the tunnel, and the row of spines sank beneath the rocks.

"Did we get it ?" Kart hurried over to the large gash in the ground. He gripped his lightsabre tightly with both hands, eager to land some blows of his own.

"I have wounded it enough to discourage it from attacking again." Farid stared ahead into the darkness. "Come, stay alert, there is no telling what dangers lay ahead of us."

-

The thick folds in the rocks were getting more and more prominent now, and they impeded Zeratul's progress so much so that he was now clambering and groping his way along the tunnel.

Up ahead the tunnel opened up into a small cavern lit up by a strange blue radiance emitted by a small sky-blue crystal embedded into the wrinkled rock. At a glance, Zeratul recognized what it was, and he staggered towards it, reaching out a hand to pull it free.

The moment his finger touched the surface of the crystal, there echoed throughout the tunnel the weird noise of rocks being crushed and scraped together, accompanied by the organic sound of stretching and squeezing.

Startled, Zeratul spun round, and realized to his horror that, where he had walked through just minutes ago, the strange rib like structures in the walls had constricted and closed in towards each other, completely blocking the tunnel.

The warp blades shot out from the backs of both hands, and Zeratul slashed frantically at the newly formed wall. Bits of rock and dust flew off with each swipe, but it was no use. The warp blade was designed for cutting, not for scooping off rocks.

Now Zeratul froze as he heard a squelching noise, and a low, blood-curdling wail.

Turning round slowly, the Grey Templar beheld a horrifying sight.

What he had taken to be folds and ridges in the cavern walls now began to quiver and slither off in various directions. Some of them lifted clear off the surrounding rock. Tentacles.

At the farther end of the cavern, the mass of gigantic tentacles converged into a dark, brown green, pulsating body protruding out and up into a large, gourd shaped lump, at whose base a pair of black, slit-like eyes stared threateningly towards Zeratul. Faint bands of iridescent yellow, brown, red and black appeared at the tips of various tentacles throughout the cavern and flowed up into the main body.

Mesmerised and terrified, Zeratul stood rooted to the ground as three tentacles crept stealthily towards him like pythons stalking their prey. Then, all at once, they shot towards the unsuspecting dark templar.

Zeratul felt a violent push as the tentacles struck an invisible barrier and recoiled in a flash, smoke trailing between them and the invisible point of impact.

Warrior instincts took over Zeratul's body as he swiftly leapt up and spun sideways into the air, slashing in wide arcs with his extended warp blades. There was the horrid sound of rubber tyres being chopped up. Dark green fluid and mist splashed in all directions.

When he landed, he heard a low wail and saw three severed tentacles writhing on the floor before they shrank and dissolved into a pool of dark green liquid.

A distance away, the three reduced appendages waved angrily.

Then, they stilled, and from where each had been sliced short, a dark, brown green stump emerged, and they grew and extended into new tentacles, which hurled themselves towards Zeratul like vipers striking a rodent.

At this sight, Zeratul was surprised, but not shocked. He had fought monsters with regenerative abilities before.

Calmly, he lowered his shield and held out his hands, catching two of the tentacles as they approached him, and stamping the third one onto the ground with his feet. Before they could jerk free and throw him off, he channeled the energies of the Void into his extremities. His eyes flashed a bright orange, and orange sparks jumped off his arms and encircled the trapped tentacles.

Zeratul could feel them stiffen under the paralyzing effects of the Void, as the orange lightning shot down along the tentacles towards the main body of the creature.

Then, Zeratul heard three loud intermittent 'pop's and felt a sudden shift in weight. Staggering back to regain his balance, he stared forward and muttered a curse.

The creature had realized what he was up to and detached the three tentacles at their bases.

Throwing off the dead tentacles, he raised his plasma shield just as a dozen tentacles rushed up and swamped all over him. His shield sparked and hissed in protest. It would not hold for long. He could already feel an immense pressure threatening to crush him as the shield gave inch by inch.

Exhausted, and overcome with a sense of inevitable doom, Zeratul closed his eyes and let his mind drift through the Void…

… And touch with a strange alien presence.

_Die !__you__ are not worthy !_

Zeratul felt a flood of images and emotions, and unfamiliar sensory experiences overwhelm him, and he realized that in his desperation, he had opened his mind to psionic contact with the nearest scientient being, which happened to be the being now trying to squash him to death.

Too weak to attempt a temporary Mind Control, Zeratul gave the first telepathic reply he could think of.

_Release me and I will be gone from this place._

For a moment nothing happened, then Zeratul heaved a sigh of relief as he felt the tentacles around him relax and withdraw away from him, just as his depleting shield thinned out.

Kneeling and bending over to catch his breath, the exhausted Protoss warrior wrapped his grey cape around him and focused his mind, calling up the power of the Void to bend light around himself, while pretending to walk towards the exit of the cavern leading towards the outside of the plateau.

Gradually, the figure in a grey cloak faded away, breaking up as if seen through ripples of water, and then vanished.


	3. Competition

**Competition**

From a dim white globe of light in the middle of the ceiling, three evenly spaced columns of ribs and folds ran down the black walls of the dome-like central cavern, so that the latter appeared like the inside of a large, empty sea-urchin shell.

Where the wall curved into the floor, each column divided into an imposing, oval doorway opening into dark tunnels. Atop one doorway was carved the familiar octopus motif, on another the image of a gigantic arthropod with a grimacing face and spines pointing in all directions, on the last one was carved a strange crinoid with its feathery tube feet embracing the sides of the door. Below each door, elongate dark brown plates resembling a cross between dead kelp or palm leaves and the elytra of a flying insect, reached up to close off the portal. Despite their tough appearance the plates were very pliable and would yield to a gentle push.

And below this the column of ribs and folds continued towards the centre of the smooth floor, where it converges with the two other columns under a circular, stepped platform decorated with encrusted sky-blue crystals and faint carvings of otherworldly and unwholesome creatures, as well as what appeared to be a circuitory of thin cracks extending down the platform onto the floor ( and, though barely visible, on the walls ), through which an eerie green glow leaked from beneath the cold black stone.

On top of this platform there sat a cylindrical glass tank capped with a gold and bronze top from which weird and delicate apparatuses hung both within and around the tank. The container was filled with a glowing, lime green fluid in which a dark, blurry figure was suspended.

Now the plates sealing off the octopus-door convulsed and shakily parted, as if a gust of wind from outside the cavern had pushed and flattened them onto the floor. After a moment they sprung shut again.

A faint distortion occurred a few steps away from the central platform, which soon condensed into a vague wavering humanoid figure. The next second the rippling subsided and the now clearly visible Grey Templar starred up at the dark shape within the tank.

It was fogged all around by tiny rising bubbles, as if something had excited the contents of the tank just recently. Within this Zeratul could make out the immobile silhouette of a gigantic creature, much larger than a protoss, but could discern nothing of its exact appearance, except for dim hints of a segmented exoskeleton and prodigious claws.

For a moment Zeratul gazed quietly into the tank. The sense of weariness that had weighed down on him a moment ago was temporarily overcome by fascination and excitement.

_Touch the crystal__…_

The voice which sounded disturbingly like a certain terrible entity that Zeratul had encountered before, pulled him back from his reverie with a start. "Wh … what are you ?"

_You know full well what I am … that's why you came …_

"Yes – I want answers."

The mysterious voice fell silent.

"Who is Samir Duran ? What did he mean by the Completion of a Cycle ? What will happen to my people – "

_Patience, First Born …__ you will know when the necessary events unfold __…_

"Then what part can I play in all this ?"

Silence for a few more seconds, as Zeratul stared at the shadow within the tank for any stirrings, any signs of life.

_T__ake__ the crystal …_

With a sigh, Zeratul looked down at the stepped platform before him. It was lined with rows of Khaydarin crystals of various shapes and sizes, amidst the frightening imitations of organic forms carved into the surrounding stone. Which was it referring to ?

The Grey Templar bent down and reached out to feel the stonework with his hands, looking for clues and trying to infer the details behind that last instruction. As he groped along the reliefs of shells, tentacles, scutes and tubercles, he came to a thin crack which encircled a foot wide slab of stone with arthropod appendages projecting out and curving in towards the centre, where a few of the articulated limbs held on to a smooth, ovoid Khaydarin crystal, like the underside of an overturned crustacean hugging onto a precious egg.

Zeratul gripped onto the statue's stone limbs and tugged gently. The whole slab slid out of the surrounding stone by a centimeter, and at once the lime green glow in the glass tank dimmed a little, while the sky blue luminescence in the ovoid crystal intensified.

Excitedly, he yanked the whole artifact out, leaving behind the deep, foot wide cast of the top of a trilobite, and gently placed it onto the floor before him. The green light of the glass tank did out, while Zeratul was bathed in the bright blue flickering radiance of the crystal.

The latter held the Grey Templar's gaze. It seemed to speak to him in a barely audible, yet penetrating voice, appealing to his subconscious and leading him on to an unknown destination.

_Touch…_

Zeratul held out his hand towards the artifact and slid it past the menacing claws of the stone trilobite, which, under the unsteady light, appeared to unfold away, allowing him passage.

Just as the tip of his longest finger was a mere milimetre away from the surface of the crystal, Zeratul heard faint, distant voices, and abruptly pulled his hand back, stood up and looked around.

These were real, discernible voices, and they were getting louder, as if someone were approaching the central cavern, from a tunnel other than the one through which he had entered.

Instintively, Zeratul threw his cape over his body and backed away towards the cavern wall behind him, while focusing his mind on bending light around himself, ready to dash out through the octopus door behind him at the first sign of disaster.

Now far to the left of the octopus door, the leaf plates under the relief of the spiny insect shuddered and were pushed back onto the floor as two figures in brown robes and a third in a white robe stepped into the cavern, still engrossed in their boisterous conversation. Each carried a straight thin sword with blades made of a bright coloured light.

-

"- It's still alive ? but - " Kart exclaimed, then gasped again in wonder as he beheld the vast central cavern which he had just entered.

"The creature meant to challenge us. That much I could sense through the Force. It could have been guarding something important." Keeping a straight face, Farid turned off his light sabre and walked towards the huge glass cylinder in the centre of the cavern. The black vertical third eye on his forehead narrowed both out of curiosity and in response to the improvement of lighting as compared to the dark tunnel the trio just came through.

Behind him, Kart and Enri followed suit.

Farid stood a distance away from the glass tank and stared into it, stroking his beard and frowning. "Perplexing … just a moment ago …"

Leaving the Jedi Master to talk to himself, Kart and Enri circled the stone platform, taking in every detail and contemplating the alien workmanship that went into crafting this edifice.

"Wow, have you seen this before ?"

"In my dreams perhaps." Enri replied. He did not shrug, nor did he follow up with any of the crazy antics that usually accompanied his witty comments. He studied the stone structure with a blank, detached expression.

Now they were on the other side of the platform, and Kart was suddenly aware of a strong blue light shining up from somewhere near his feet, he bent down and noticed a medium sized black stone artifact sculpted to resemble a bloated trilobite holding a glowing sky-blue crystal close to its belly.

Squating down, the young Jedi examined the strange light source. The more he stared at it, the more he felt drawn to it, and the more it seemed to occupy his mind. He forgot where he was, what he had done. There was only one place to go, and that was towards the bright blue light.

_Touch …_

Prodded on by the mysterious inner voice, Kart held out his hand.

_Let all grievances __be__ redressed, all wrongs avenged …_

The blue light intensified and flickered profusely. Again, the trilobite's legs seemed to unfold.

_… I am the power you seek __–_

Kart was awoken by a strong, slightly wrinkled hand holding on to his outstretched arm, and with a start, he looked to his right, to see Enri squatting down beside him.

"Careful, lad." Enri pointed to the carvings on the stone platform. "It says, 'See No Touch' !"

Kart followed his finger and saw nothing but chaos. Segmented cords weaving in and out, rings of curved teeth pointing into circular mouths, smooth eye-like half spheres peering out from among a mass of unnamable monstrosities.

"Come on. You can read that ?" Kart raised an eyebrow.

Now Enri shrugged and laughed. "Not really. Maybe it says,'Keep off or we will eat you !'"

"Or, 'talk to us, we feel so –'"

A loud rumbling sound. The floor trembled. Kart and Enri stood up and looked around in panic, their hands reaching instinctively for their light sabres. Various terrible scenarios flashed through their minds. A large cruiser was landing on the plateau, or perhaps an underground stream was flooding and bursting into the tunnel systems, or perhaps a hidden volcano was erupting and it was molten rock flooding and bursting into the tunnels, or perhaps it was an epic, apocalyptic –

"Follow me ! Now !" Amidst the din caused by the unknown upheaval, Farid managed to get his friend and apprentice's attentions. The latter two ran immediately ran after him as he dashed off towards the wall, close to the insect door, with speed that belied his age.

"Keep off the centre of the cavern. It's coming !"

Thin cracks shot out from the sides of the crinoid door on the another side of the cavern and into the surrounding wall. Without warning, a titanic, dark shape crashed through the portal, sending rocks and dust, and torn rubbery rags hurtling in all directions.

The enormous object skidded over the floor and crushed the glass tank under its weight. Slowly, it unfolded into a gigantic feather star with a black globular body as tall and wide as two persons laying head to feet. Rows of grey scutes and short spines ran vertically and converged at the top where it opened into a circular mouth lined with a ring of seven tusk like teeth which curved inward. From the sides there extended seven tentacle like arms. Each was roughly six metres long, a metre thick and tapered at its tip into a cluster of round, unblinking black eyes. Rows of translucent brown tube feet ran the length of the arm. Some ended in cup like suckers, others in wicked black pincers and hooks.

Thin beams of light shot out from the tunnel beyond the shattered crinoid door, and struck the creature, sending up puffs of smoke where they hit. The latter let out an ear-splitting bellow which sounded like large sheets of metal being bent and crushed, and then fell silent and stopped moving. It sagged and its appendages drooped onto the floor.

Now the laser blasts stopped, and several twig thin, angular figures filed in through the enlarged portal. They were identical to each other, and there was a dull metallic luster to their bodies. Their mantid like heads swiveled about on rod like necks, scanning the cavern for danger. In their skeletal hands they carried their heavy blaster rifles.

Behind the droids there came two figures in black hooded robes, of a similar design to that worn by the Jedi, except for the hood and the black colour. Their faces were intricately tattooed, and they glanced around suspiciously with shocking yellow eyes. And behind these was another imposing figure in a black hooded cloak. The latter's face was completely hidden in shadow.

"Dark Jedi." Enri spat.

Kart's face contorted into an expression of deep hatred. He leaned forward and gripped his lightsabre tightly. Immediately Farid laid a hand on his apprentice's shoulder and pulled him back. "Easy. He is Sith" They both eyed the figure in the black cloak.

Sensing Kart's hostile intent, one of the yellow-eyed Dark Jedi stared in his direction, and snarled. "Republic dogs …"

The figure in the black cloak followed its attendant's gaze across the cavern and spotted the three Jedi standing with their backs close to the wall far to its right.

"Ah, my friends." The figure spread its arms. The tone of its voice brimmed with sarcasm. "I hear the Jedi are disinterested in material wealth … but what do I see here ? Have you come in search of treasure as well ?"

"Well at least we were not so interested as to bring in a whole army here ! Haha !" Enri chuckled and grabbed his belt, bringing his hands close to his light sabre while appearing to be in a jovial mood.

"Shut up, old man." Growled the dark jedi who had just insulted them. "We have dozens of blaster rifles aimed at your throat."

"Oh frightening ! I guess this is it for us, my friend." Enri leaned towards Farid, wrapped an arm around the latter's shoulder and whispered softly so that only the Jedi Master could hear. "I have the hot-headed one covered. You take the rest."

For a moment Farid glanced down at his comrade in surprise.

"What … You are the Master here !" Enri smiled. "Besides, the young lad does need some experience." He peered towards Kart.

Shaking his head, Farid took a deep breath, pulled his usual straight face and addressed the crowd before them. "No need for threats. Please allow us to leave this place and you can carry on -"

"Hahahahaha …" The Sith Lord burst into a sinister laughter that echoed throughout the cavern.

"I don't think so, old man."The hot headed Dark Jedi turned on his light sabre. A metre long rod of red light shot out of its hilt. He leapt forward, somersaulting over the line of droids, landed on the floor before them, and sprinted towards Farid with a savage scream, his lightsabre raised over his head in preparation for a downward slash. The other dark Jedi followed suit.

Enri and Kart held up their own lightsabres and charged forward to meet them.

-

Across the cavern, Zeratul watched the exchange with amusement. Terran-like aliens with glowing swords ? Now that was something you would not see everyday.

Slowly, trusting the power of the Void to keep him invisible, he walked over towards the artifact which had rolled some metres away from under the seemingly lifeless body of the overgrown echinoderm, thrown back by the impact the latter had made when crashing towards the centre of the cavern.

Perhaps, he could take it, and sneak out through one of the tunnels, while these clowns fought each other to the Void knew what end…

-

Blinding sparks flew as Enri and his opponent locked blades again and again. Gripping his lightsabre tightly in both hands, the Dark Jedi swung wildly and repeatly at Enri in wide arcs. Each time, the older Jedi would seem to parry away the blow with just his right hand holding on to his weapon, while keeping his left hand behind his back, as if to mock the younger warrior. Enri's calm and confident smile enraged his opponent even more, and the latter's strikes became more desperate.

Gathering all his strength the young Dark Jedi waved his weapon high above his head and brought it down upon Enri with the force of a massive falling hammer.

Enri was well prepared for this kind of attack. He placed one foot far behind the other, ducked slightly and brought his lightsabre up to meet the his opponent's downward swipe.

Having a less steady footing, the Dark Jedi was thrown backwards by the reaction force. He staggered and steadied himself.

Now Enri lowered his lightsabre and sighed. "Calm down, lad. You are getting crazier than I usually am."

Seeing his chance, the Dark Jedi leapt forward and pointed his weapon forward to impale his enemy. Enri quickly stepped to his right to avoid the deadly rod of light. Having closed the distance between them, his opponent halted right before him, and spun round, swinging his lightsabre at Enri's shoulder, forcing the latter to duck.

Using the momentum of the spin, the black robed warrior brought his right leg up and kicked Enri in the face, throwing him a few metres backwards onto the floor, where he lay flat on his back.

"Owww…" Enri looked up just in time to see a rod of bright red light above him.

"Die ! Old man !" The Dark Jedi shouted as he brought his light sabre down on Enri's head.

Immediately rolling away from the attack, his head just centimeters away from the tip of the red blade of light, he finally brought his left hand forward and threw a clump of dust and stone at the Dark Jedi's face.

Temperarily blinded, the latter coughed and staggered.

"Floor dust. Always grab a handful before going into battle !" Enri laughed as he slashed at the Dark Jedi's hand with one precise swipe of his lightsabre.

The younger fighter yelped in pain. His lightsabre flickered off, its hilt clanged onto the floor in two pieces.

"Now its my turn !" Enri turned off his lightsabre and leapt at his stunned opponent like a bear pouncing on a deer.

-

Kart held up his light sabre before him and rather than an inch thick coloured glowing rod, a bright white, hair thin thread wrapped in a shimmering, translucent blue surface shot out from the outer end of the hilt, like a very straight, long, and steady flame.

For a moment his opponent was confused by the weird appearance of his weapon, a look of doubt showed in the flaming yellow eyes.

Kart took the opportunity to stab forward at the head of the black-robed figure. A red rod of light was flung up to block his weapon and the latter was deflected by several centimeters. Pulling back, it cut cleanly up through the side of the Dark Jedi's hood.

The rags flew off to reveal long red braids, and the Dark Jedi's facial features more clearly to Kart, who leapt back with a start. "You !"

-

"Cease this madness ! " Farid shouted as he approached the figure in black cloak.

In reply the latter simply continued laughing. In front of him the droids pointed their blaster rifles towards Farid. Before they could fire, though, their weapons flew from their hands and smashed into the wall behind them, as if someone had reeled in invisible strings tied around the rifles. Some of the droids toppled over as a result of the unexpected phenomenon.

Farid lowered his hand and closed his palm. "If you must fight me, do so as a wielder of the Force !"

"Indeed !" The black cloaked figure held out his own hands.

Instinctively, Farid held up an ignited lightsabre just as bright blue bolts of lightning burst forth from the tips of the Sith Lord's fingers and arced towards the Jedi Master.

Drawing a deep breath, Farid let the Force flow through his weapon and felt a stinging pain in his palms as he absorbed the destructive bright blue sparks into the glowing blade of his light sabre. Had he reacted slower or been less experienced in the Force he would now be writhing in unbearable pain from Sith Lightning striking his body. But the Jedi Master's concentration never faltered and he held his ground.

Laughing, the Sith Lord barked an order to his droids. "Go, finish what we came here to do !"

His mechanical minions stood up in attention. Then all at once they ran towards the medium sized artifact lying in the centre of the cavern.

Two metres away from the artifact the first droid jerked up and fell backwards, sparks flying off its face and chest as if it had hit an invisible wall.

-

Zeratul held his breath as the droid collapsed before him.

As the other droids stopped in their tracks, he extended his warp blades and dropped to a battle ready stance. They had been alerted to an invisible enemy, and he did not trust his shield to hold off a whole squadron of mechanical fighters.

The droids spread out and circled the spot where their colleague had fallen, surrounding Zeratul in the process.

Three droids stepped in and approached the centre of the circle.

Instinctively, Zeratul dashed away from the centre, towards one side of the circle and swung his blades in a wide horizontal arc, slicing two droids cleanly in half across the waist.

As the latter's severed body parts dropped down onto the floor, Zeratul felt the weight of several droids bearing down on his shield, which sparked and threatened to give way. "Adun help me !" He muttered as he let a hundred years of mind-blade training take over.

-

The Sith Lord stopped laughing and stared in shock at his droids falling over and breaking into pieces at every impossible angle. "Imbeciles !" he shouted angrily.

Farid noticed that as well, and now he laughed,"It seems whoever built this … temple … took rather elaborate measures against theft !"

The hissing, crackling lightning died down and dissipated, as the Sith Lord refocused his attention towards the centre of the cavern.

-

Zeratul slashed downward, cutting the last droid in half. He took a large gulp of air into his tired book lungs and turned towards the artifact on the floor.

Then he gasped in shock as the stone trilobite appeared to roll off by its own accord, then fly up, across the cavern, and into the hands of a figure in a black cloak standing in the crinoid door.

"Again I must do everything by myself !" The figure shouted "Let's go ! Another time, Jedi."

The figure turned and walked out into the dark tunnel. From somewhere else in the cavern, a figure in black robes limped after his master, followed by another figure in black robes whose hood had been shorn cleanly in half, flaming red hair trailing behind the head.

Zeratul clenched his fists in anguish. No, he thought, I must have the artifact ! Exhaustion and frustration clouded his judgement, and despite a slightly blurring vision, he dragged his feet forward, staggering after the black robed figures like a murderous zombie after fresh meat.

Then, his toes got caught in one of the columns of rib-like designs on the floor, and he fell forward, hands stretched out before him across the floor.

Still, he glared ahead at the crinoid door, and at the now faint figures hurrying in their own fashions towards it. As the unbearable anger and desperation welled up within him, his eyes flared a brilliant blue, and a ball of bright blue haze with a white hot core condensed and swelled up between his palms.

Thick bolts of bright blue lightning erupted out of the ground all around him and jumped towards the hapless Dark Jedi, and past them into the tunnel beyond. The sparks bore through their bodies just as they stepped through the doorway and the two dropped to their knees. Tortured cries escaped their throats and reverberated across the cavern walls.

"No !!!" Someone shouted, and from the corner of his eye Zeratul saw a red haired figure in dark brown robes run towards the doorway as well.

Shocked, Zeratul shoved the glowing energy ball in his hands into the ground. The Psionic Storm died down, leaving a thin swirling mist and clouds of floating dust sinking through the air. His head felt heavy, his lungs burned and he found it hard to stay awake. To his chagrin, he realized that by channeling the light energies of the templar he had flushed out the energies of the Void, making him visible to every other living thing in the cavern.

_Every_ other _living th__ing_ …

A loud, familiar bellow sent chills down Zeratul's spine. With great effort, he turn his gaze upward and stared in horror through the mist at the titanic silhouette of a monstrous crinoid with six metre long arms lifting itself clear off the ground with a thick stalk plunged into a hole in the centre of the cavern floor, just metres away from where Zeratul lay. The reawakened third guardian of the temple turned its attention on the nearest sentient being it could find, bringing the tip of one of its arms down on Zeratul until he could see its tube feet waving over him, and its black eyes staring down hungrily at him.

As his vision dimmed, as did the glow in his eyes, he heard quick footsteps approaching him, followed by rods of light flashing overhead.

There was the 'ploplop' of rubbery appendages dropping onto the floor, and then a faintly familiar voice whispered to him.

"Enough fighting for today. Come with us …"

-

(Yup, enough typing for today.

I still haven't decided at which point in the Star Wars timeline this story should take place.

Suggestions will be very appreciated !

About "no gender-related theme", it is to the effect that if you replaced a male character in the story with a female, or vice versa, there should be no difference. I have doubts about "no romantic theme" though, but no promises in this story.

Have a nice day/night.

Starspawn07)


	4. Council

( This fanfic is set 'shortly before' the Star Wars prequel series. i.e I was too lazy to read up on Star Wars lore XD )

**Council **

The figure dressed in splendid Judicator robes looked in comtempt.

Zeratul felt himself frown. They had the Judicator surrounded. The latter had nowhere to run. Around him, the bodies of his staunchest defenders lay motionless amidst piles of crushed and burned down weaponry. Still he remained defiant. _The __Khalai__ and their stupid pride_.

Beside the dark templar, a younger warrior wearing nothing but kilts and shoulder guards, tattered and hanging loose from the fierce fighting, clenched a fist and punched his other palm in frustration. "Be reasonable, Aldaris ! Kerrigan is no longer our enemy. She no longer seeks to enslave anyone ! Do not force us to destroy you !"

At this Aldaris's gaze shot forward and he raised his brow ridges in anger. "You can no longer be so naïve, young Artanis. While you were away, I discovered that the Matriarch harbours a dark secret, she has been secretly manipulated by –"

"I have no time for this !"

Aldaris gurgled and arched his back, eyes wide in shock as a gently curved black spike burst out through the middle of his chest, a luminescent blue mist spraying into the air from the resulting wound.

Stunned, Zeratul and Artanis stood and watched as the spike seemed to withdraw into Aldaris's body. The latter swayed gently, then fell forward. His face settled into a peaceful expression as Zeratul caught his barely audible last words.

"I die free …"

Behind the body of the dying Judicator, now rapidly disintegrating and going up in blue flames, there stood the figure of a scantily dressed Terran female, covered in black scutes and a lustrous leathery covering which wrapped tightly around her waist and lower leg. Dark veins showed through her pale green skin. She had gold eyes, with slit like pupils. In place of hair, she had segmented spines protruding and bending down over her head. Two skeletal wings sprouted from her back and ended in large scyths.

Zeratul felt his book gills go dry. "Kerrigan, what have you done ?"

Kerrigan wiped the steaming, glowing blue blood from the tip of one wing with her clawed hands, and grinned wickedly. "What I've always wanted to do."

"This is our matter ! You have no right to interfere !" Zeratul trembled in anger. " Be gone …"

-

"… begone from this place, and never - "

Zeratul almost choked on his own words as he awoke abruptly from his nightmare. For a while he could see nothing, feel nothing, think nothing, the blood pushed out of his brain as if his head had been jerked violently forward. As he slowly regained his senses, he now found himself staring down past his own legs at a light brown wooden floor. The horror of dream had caused him to sit up and bend forward. The horror in it was that it was more than just a dream. It was a recollection.

Again.

Zeratul sighed and shook his head. Not over yet. Was this going to lead up to another heaven splitting, earth shattering revelation that would once more change his outlook on the universe ? He chuckled bitterly. If this were Khas's idea of premonitions, the old sage could sure use a bit more creativity.

"You are awake ?"

Zeratul looked up with a start. Standing before him, was what appeared to be an old, bald, bearded Terran male dressed in dark brown robes. In the middle of his forehead was a third, vertical, black eye.

-

A series of large eight metre long rectangular windows ran round the sides of the circular Council chamber, giving all its inhabitants a breathtaking view of the city outside. Between each window a grey three metre wide section of wall slanted up and outwards before connecting with the edge of the ceiling. From the inner face of each section a thick silvery pillar rose up into the blackness above.

The floor of the chamber was decorated with simple brown and yellow concentric circles and floral patterns. Near the outer edge of the floor, with their backs to the windows, was a ring of variously designed red cushioned sofas bearing the weights of strange humanoid creatures whose only outward similarity was that they all dressed in the brown, wheat or grey robes of the Jedi.

In one small seat opposite the entrance of the chamber there sat a diminitive figure with green, wrinkled skin, a broad round face, a balding scalp and long donkey like ears.

He appeared to be meditating intently, eyes closed, oblivious to the quarrels around him, but in truth Jedi Master Yoda was acutely aware of everything going on in the room.

He was especially aware of the power emanating from a tall figure sitting in the centre of the chamber. This being was alarmingly strong in the Force, as if not long after it was born it had touched and learned to wield this universal energy. Not unexpected though, since the Force flows through all living things. It is there from birth till death, and possibly, as Yoda suspected, beyond death.

What was truely frightening, was that the creature also possessed a second energy that he could not identify. The Dark side ? For centuries, Yoda had considered the Dark Side to be a facet of the Force itself, a corruptive aspect of the Jedi's source of power that lead the less cautious wielder down a path of destruction and sorrow. Yet this mysterious energy was beyond that. It was opposite to the Force in most ways. While the Force strengthened life, this energy promoted un-life, while the Force stood for light and substance, this energy stood for darkness and nothingness. A Void.

Yoda opened his eyes to take a good look of the creature. There it was, sitting beside Jedi Master Farid at the centre of the chamber, wrapped in red and black cloth and a great grey cape, concealing a vaguely humanoid form. Only ts large blue glowing eyes were exposed, as well as the surrounding greyish scaly skin, and a bunch of long thin segmented appendages trailing out from the back of its head.

It was looking curiously around the chamber, shifting its eyes slowly from one person to the next. Yoda could sense it silently reaching out with its mind to touch those of the others around it. In fact, Yoda could feel that this form of communication, rather than voiced speech, was the form of interaction that the creature was more used to. Another proof that it had felt the Force since an early age.

It rested its gaze upon Yoda, and seemed to settle into a more peaceful expression.

_Greetings_.

Yoda replied with a smile and a gentle nod. He had been identified as the oldest and most influential among the group, and the creature knew, if things turned sour, it could look to him for a peaceful resolution. Fascinating. As the two stared at each other for a while, Yoda sighed inwardly. There was always something new to learn, something to challenge his conception of the way things were. If only his age had not caught up with him so fast.

Unfortunately, the younger Jedi seated around him did not share the duo's spirit of peaceful observation.

"Do we not realise ?" scolded one bearded figure with grey pink rugged skin and a bald scalp which rose and pointed up like a small mountain. "If Master Farid's account is true, then this alien is obviously a Sith ! He cannot be trusted, he must be restrained at once !"

"If Farid's account is true, then he was fighting the Sith. He could be a valuable ally." Countered a dark-skinned human looking woman with a hood over her head.

"An important ally." Agreed another creature covered in long pale gold fur from head to toe. "Though explaining his existence to the politicians will be quite a task. The general populace think that the Sith is nothing more than a myth."

"We will not have to explain anything !" Conehead roared, now more agitated. "Who will allow a threat of this magnitude to run around the capital of the Republic unhindered ?"

"Brothers !"interjected a pale blue skinned being with a small bulbous head supported on a long thin stalk like neck. "What ever the Sith have in stall for us, fighting amongst ourselves will not protect us from it." He turned to the figure standing in the middle of the chamber. "Farid, you found the stranger. What do you suggest ?"

Farid cleared his throat addressed the council. "As you have felt, this stranger wields the Force in a manner that we are not familiar. As I have also said, I found him in a strange temple which housed technology of a sort that I dare say none of have ever seen. A technology that channels the Force in a scale and precision far greater than our light sabres or holocrons. I do not know how he is connected to that temple, but I am sure he knows something."

"Do you believe he is willing to share ?" Asked a voice from behind him.

"If we ask politely."Farid replied "What I firmly believe, is that he is more than just a rogue Sith. He was willing to spare the life of the Dark Jedi whose master stole an artifact he was trying desperately to defend. I have never seen a Sith Lord with that much sober control over the use of his powers."

"Reason you speak." Yoda nodded.

"Master Yoda." Farid bowed slightly in reverance."This stranger could possess a knowledge of the Force that would benefit as all. At the very least, he poses no immediate threat. Please allow him to be our guest."

Yoda rubbed his chin for a moment, enjoying the moment of silence as everyone stared at him, waiting for his decision, which he had in fact made a while ago. "That I will."

-

Zeratul inspected his resting quarters as he stepped in.

It was a simple room with a brown floor just like in the Council chamber, and similar smooth, grey, curved walls. One entire side was almost taken up by a large rectangular window which afforded a generous view of the glittering skyscrapers, criss-crossing streets, floating platforms and aerial highways of Coruscant, as these people called their city.

Friendly people, these Jedi. As it turned out, they were an order of people with psionic abilities trained to keep the peace among the people in their nation. They considered violence as a last resort. Even Conehead, fierce as he was, never really threatened to injure him in any way.

Judging from casual accounts by the Jedi themselves, as well as the appearance of the city, this was a highly advanced civilisation which spanned the greater part of an entire galaxy. The dominant species was human, but countless others were represented in the Republic as well.

Interestingly though, none was exactly sure about the origins of this civilisation.

Zeratul chuckled. A sense of deja vu.

The Grey Templar unwound his garments and kicked them to a far corner. Then he proceeded to place all his equipment and weapons on a simple wooden table in the centre of the room. Relieved of all his burden, he lay down on a red cushion and stretched to relax himself.

Just then, he felt a presence right outside the room. "Have you been sent to watch me ?"

A young human male with red hair tied into a small braid on his right stepped out into the middle of the doorway and smiled apologetically. "No, I was just curious."

Zeratul sat up and spread his arms. "Come in then."

The latter pulled another cushion towards himself and sat in front of Zeratul. "So, I heard you use the Dark Side as well ?"

"So they say." Zeratul laughed."Your elders consider it something very evil, yet you seem eager to learn about it."

"I have my own reasons." At this the smile faded from the boy's face for a moment, and then returned as if nothing happened. "So, what are you ? Where are you from ?"

"Perhaps we can begin by telling each other our names. I am Zeratul." Zeratul extended an arm. From what he learned, shaking hands was a gesture of goodwill among Terrans. Hopefully, the customs here were not that different.

"Kart." The boy took his hand in his own and shook it excitedly.

Kart's enthusiasm was infectious, and Zeratul soon found himself proudly telling of the epic wars that he had been through, while Kart listened eyes wide in amazement and wonder, his mind filled with dream like sceneries and fantastic creatures on distant worlds ...

And a cosmic power different from that wielded by the Jedi.

…

"You are taking this in rather well."

Zeratul smiled and closed his eyes.

In the blankness of his mind, a bright speck of light appeared before him. It grew and changed until it had molded itself into the figure of an old protoss clad in white scholarly robes. Its eyes emitted a pure white glow. It appeared benevolent yet exuded an aura of divine authority.

"Been a while, Bringer of Light." Zeratul greeted the ethereal entity. Actually, he just thought. In the realm of the spirit, outward words and gestures meant little.

"I told you. I have always been with you."

"What of Artanis and the others ?"

"You will know when you return."

A moment of silence. Then, Zeratul asked, "Why have you appeared, teacher ?"

The figure of Khas stepped forward and sat down before Zeratul. "You have called to me."

Another moment of silence, then Zeratul remembered. "Yes, my dream. What did it mean ?"

"You were angry. What were you angry about ?"

"Aldaris was killed. We were betrayed. He saw the truth. We were blind to it. And then it was too late."

"Aldaris was able to discover the Queen of Blade's treachery while the rest of you could not."

"He had stayed behind on Shaquras, and he was ever suspicious of outsiders."

"He was Judicator."

Zeratul mentally jerked back with a start. "I don't understand."

"Look beyond the illusion of material reality, and you will."

"Are you saying that certain things I have seen are not real ?"

Khas appeared to laugh. "A little at a time. Knowledge is not everything. You have seen a lot, and learned a lot, Zeratul. You are the most experienced, and the most enlightened, among the Templar, but you have yet to experience the ultimate principle of the Khala." Now the sage leaned in and spoke in a clearer tone. "The time draws near when you will cross the next threshold, and your new … friends, will play a little part in your endeavor."

With that, Khas's aura dimmed, and he faded from Zeratul's mind.

The Grey Templar opened his eyes and stared hard through the window into the orange sky. He mind raced to make sense of what the Bringer of Light had just said.

"He was Judicator." He muttered.

What was the significance of that ? He recalled that the Judicators were the first disciples of Khas. Did the Judicators know something about the Path of Ascension that members of the other castes did not ? Were the judges and scholars of Protoss society indeed more keenly aware of a greater reality than their warrior and lay brethren ?

And what did this have to do with death ? Zeratul had seen hundreds of his comrades fall in battle. In desperate times, brave templar would rush in before the enemy and sacrifice himself for the greater cause. One would hear the familiar shout of, "I die for Aiur !" before body of the selfless zealot broke down into blue mist and fire.

Yet Aldaris was no templar.

Zeratul's thoughts rested on that faint psionic whisper that accompanied the Judicator's last breath.

"I die free …"

A little at a time, he thought.

-

( Oh, mental block . I guess I should have stuck to shorter stories. haha.

Now, anyone knows how to invite a cowriter in fanfiction net ? XD XD

Have fun and see y'all another day.

Starspawn 07 )


	5. One for the Sith

**One for the ****Sith**

Under the dim blue morning sky, a thin white mist drifted through the upper city of Coruscant. Thus silhouetted against the pale horizon, it acquired a surreal character. This was further enhanced by the the orderly lines of vehicles cruising through invisible highways in the air, crisscrossing and winding their way among the endless landscape of complex towers, domes, and platforms, like fish in a concrete reef. The height of these buildings could not be ascertained from this angle, as they seemed to rise up from far below the artificial grounds, where only a tiny fraction of the light from above could reach.

And at the political centre of the capital world, there was a vast clearing laid down with smooth grey and pale brown stone. From all directions, terraced stone steps led up to the centre of the complex, where stood a gigantic building shaped like a shining, grayish mushroom flattened from above, with smaller towers protruding upwards from the edge of the dome, and a broad fluted stalk which widened as it rose to match the base of the dome. At regular intervals along the sides of the grand pathways leading up to the central building, there stood metallic statues of tall, lean, humanoid beings each holding a lance in its right hand. They towered above the people walking up the stone steps like men above ants, and were in turn overshadowed by the enormous structure which they were guarding.

And ascending the stone steps was, among others, a young man with flaming red hair, and dressed in a light brown robe. He seemed to be enjoying the scenery most of the time, but occasionally he would turn to his right and talk to the empty space beside him. For a moment a few passersby would stop and regard him curiously, then shrug and walk on. They were too busy to be distracted for long by an eccentric tourist. They had important decisions to make, affairs to discuss, errands to run.

"And that, my friend, is the Galactic Senate building." Kart announced.

"Magnificent." Zeratul exclaimed.

For a while now the former dark templar prelate had been using his Void energies to keep himself invisible from the crowds around him. Kart had assured him that this was unnecessary, but it paid to be cautious.

And Kart did not mind, because he could still see Zeratul, if they stood close enough. In fact, the latter could sense a familiar psionic emanation coming from the young Jedi, though at the moment he could not quite explain it.

Well, he could always ask the boy later. "So this is where your leaders meet and make their decisions ?"

"Yes" Kart replied. "In fact, there is a major discussion going on almost all the time. Even now, I think. " Then Kart turned to Zeratul and grinned mischievously. "Hey, now that you are here, can you use your special abilities to … see … sneak us in ?"

For a while Zeratul frowned and rubbed his chin. "That would be difficult. No dark templar has attempted to hide himself and another individual without the proper equipment." Then he looked up at Kart eyes wide as if the latter just slapped him in the back. "Would that not be against your laws ?"

"Of course it is !"Kart shrugged. "I just asked for the fun of it. But seriously, you should teach me how to do that some time."

"A little at a time …" Zeratul nodded,

And jumped in shock as he heard a loud explosion and the ground beneath him trembled, followed by a chorus of hysterical screams coming from everywhere else in the Senate Building complex.

After steadying himself, he saw Kart starring incredulously at the Senate Building. He followed the boy's gaze and froze.

A section of the supporting trunk of the Senate Building had gone up in smoke and flames, casting an eerie orange glow on the surrounding walls, floor and ceiling. Above it, chunks of metal and stone were breaking off from that area of the dome and raining down on the ground.

All around them, humanoid figures dressed in ceremonial robes and military uniforms of various designs ran frantically away from the fire, while thin white stick like figures dashed pass them towards the scene of the explosion.

"What just transpired ?" Zeratul exclaimed.

"Terrorists !" Kart muttered, and ran off towards the Senate building.

"How do you –" Zeratul stopped short and ran after the Jedi.

-

"How can you be sure that this was a deliberate attack ?" Chancellor Finis Valorum asked under his breath.

"This facility is regularly inspected for common hazards, explosives included. As of the last inspection, all identified hazards have been neutralized. My analysis leaves sabotage and external violence as the only plausible causes of the current explosion." Came the calm, metallic reply. "Please remove your robes, sir. We have to leave the area as soon as possible."

"What ?" Finis stared hard at his sleek, white escort droid.

G6PE stared back with a pair of cold, unblinking, glassy eyes set into the front of a mouthless face shaped like the carapace of a lobster.

"Oh fine." Finis tugged at the sleeves of his heavy, grey, flowing ceremonial robe which reached down to his feet and was dotted with brilliant blue patterns. It radiated an aura of authority fit for a chancellor, but became a great hindrance in times of emergency.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finis saw a figure in a distinctive black robe approach. Under its hood, strands of red hair trailed down over its shadowy forehead.

"Jedi Knight !" Finis called. "Thank the Force you are here ! These terrorists must be stopped !"

"Do not worry, your excellency ! For now we must get you out of here." The black robed figure called back as it ran over to Finis's side. It was a woman.

To the chancellor's surprise, she wrapped an arm around his throat and whispered into his ear. "I have my light sabre pointed at your back. If you dare make a sound, I will turn it on, and then you know what happens."

"What –" Finis froze, jaws agape. His eyes were wide and jerked from side to side as he tried to make sense of what was going on.

Recognising this as a hostile act, G6PE immediately unsheathed its blaster and brought it up towards her head. "Step away, Jedi, or I will - "

The Jedi, or so she appeared to be, flicked her lightsabre in the droid's direction. An arc of red light sliced through G6PE's chest, and the next moment, its weapon arm, together with its severed shoulder and head, slid off and clanked onto the floor in a small shower of sparks. Seconds later, the rest of its body collapsed as well.

"I demand an explanation !" Finis uttered the first phrase that he could think of.

"Shut up, old man !" His kidnapper turned off her light sabre and pressed the projecting end of its hilt into his back. "Walk !"

"Gaya !"

The chancellor tensed as another Jedi stepped before them. Only this one wore light brown robes, and he sported the characteristic braid of the Padawan.

"Let the chancellor go !" The Jedi trainee demanded. "You are not getting out of this one. I recognize your force sense from when we last met in the cave."

"And what will you do, Kart ?" The woman known as Gaya retorted. Still pressing her weapon against the chancellor's back, she let go of the latter's throat and pulled back her hood to reveal long, red hair tied into several braids which bent and drooped backwards, nearly converging at a point behind her head. She looked almost like Kart, except for the more gracile features, the piercing gold irises, the black, claw like tattoos, and the shadows around her eyes which made her appear like she was going mad from lack of sleep. "Are you going to stab at me like you did the last time ?"

Kart hesitated. Gaya wrapped an arm around Finis's throat again and dragged him away from the scene. She grinned triumphantly at Kart. "Stay put, and no one gets hurt."

It was not a sinister grin. What was it ? She appeared … satisfied, as if she thought it natural that Kart should cooperate with her. And part of him agreed. True, she was holding the most important politician in the Republic hostage, but …

"Let the elder go !"

Gaya froze and glanced down to see a thin white thread of light wrapped in a translucent blue haze running right across her below her chin and tapered to a point to its right. Instinctively, she looked to her left and saw that it was projected out of the back of a large white four fingered gauntlet, at the end of a long, lean arm wrapped in black and red cloth, which was attached to the shoulder of a tall humanoid creature whose entire face was concealed by a red-brown turban revealing only its large orange glowing eyes, and the fact that its skin was grey and covered in scutes.

"Alright, scaly." Still grinning, Gaya let go of the chancellor and slowly stepped back. When she was two metres away from Finis, she stopped.

"Zeratul, look out !" Kart shouted.

Zeratul jumped back in surprise as the two halves of the dead droid now hurled themselves at him. They slammed against his plasma shield with the force of a megalith crashing down onto him, and sent him flying backwards for several metres.

Gaya leapt forward, grapped Finis again, turned and ran, dragging him with her as fast as she could. The chancellor screamed and cursed, then went mute as Gaya tightened her hold on his throat. She had been ordered to take him alive, but that would not matter if she could not reach the pick up point alive.

"Stop !" Kart ignited his lightsabre and sped off after the two.

Strong as she was in the Force, Gaya was carrying a heavy burden, and Kart soon caught up to her, just as she reached the landing platform at the edge of the Senate Building complex, where several vehicles were parked.

"Stop !" Kart shouted again, as Gaya put one foot through the door to her speeder. "Why are you doing this ?"

"Haven't your Jedi masters told you ?" Gaya turned round and gave Kart a mocking, condescending stare. "It's always for power. The lure of the dark side ! You want it too don't you ? The power to avenge our people, our homeworld ! Yes, I know you do …"

Kart grimaced and clenched his palms tightly around the hilt of his weapon. "Stop messing with my mind !"

Gaya laughed, "Oh, I'm not messing with you, my dear. You are just weak. All the so called true Jedi are weak. Come, leave the Republic, it is their fault all this has happened …"

"That… that… is only half true ! The Sith … they - " Kart gasped.

"The details don't matter !" For the first time, Gaya's grin turned a wicked look."Only power matters !"

Throwing the chancellor, now delirious from all the dragging and choking, into the speeder, Gaya held an arm towards Kart, pointing her fingers straight forward. Without warning, bright blue sparks burst out through her finger tips and struck the young Jedi, crackling all round his body.

"No-" Before Kart could react, he felt intense pain shoot through his whole body. His muscles cramped. His joints ached. His skin burned. He dropped to his knees and tensed his body.

Gaya looked down at her victim with glee. Her expression was one of wild excitement, one felt when unleashing one's powers of destruction for the first time. "Yes, beg for for it ! Beg for it, my –"

"Your power will only consume yourself, if not tempered with the discipline of the Khala !" From out of nowhere a low resounding voice thundered.

Gaya gasped in astonishment as the Force lightning projecting out of her fingertips arced up and struck herself instead, causing her to jerk back in shock. More bolts of lightning emerged from the ground around her and bore through her body.

She staggered and fell back into the cockpit of her speeder, clenching her teeth and cursing herself for being overconfident. She was still a novice. Her limited experience in the Dark Side allowed her to dispatch Jedi padawans with ease, but the Jedi order was not all padawans.

Quickly, she slammed a fist onto a group of buttons on the control panel, and tucked in her legs, just as the door slid shut, and the speeder lifted itself off the ground, then suddenly dashed forward.

Kart watched helplessly as the sleek white teardrop shaped vehicle vanished in the distance. "Thanks, Zeratul."

"You are welcome." The Grey Templar appeared behind the young Jedi. "Who was that ?"

Kart looked down and remained silent.

Zeratul asked no further. Kart was exhausted, and he could feel, the boy's mind was now filled with pain and anguish. If even a Dark Jedi could inflict so much trauma and suffering upon her enemy, Zeratul shuddered to think what a Sith Lord would be capable of.

One other thing drew the Grey templar's attention. Now that he had glimpsed Kart's light sabre as it appeared when activated, he realized he had found the source of that strange psionic emanation he had felt.

For he had felt it only a few times, during his visits to the labs on Aiur when he was young, and the protoss homeworld was still prosperous.

It was more than a simple light sabre that Kart was holding in his hand. The hilt appeared no different to the weapon of any other Jedi, but the thread of lethal energy that it projected was unmistakably something else. Something that the protoss had tried to reproduce, with limited success.

An ancient Xel-Naga psi-blade.

-

"What is it that you want, Sith Lord ?" Jedi Knight Ki Adi Mundi stared at the holographic projection of the hooded figure in a black cloak, who stared back at the Jedi council member with glowing yellow eyes amidst a face that was completely obscured in shadow, adding to the dark unnerving influence that this mysterious adversary of the Jedi Order had on the atmosphere.

The Sith Lord answered with his chilling laughter. "We know about the latest addition to your order, Jedi. Hand over the renegade Sith, and the chancellor returns unharmed."

"Nonsense, we have never inducted any Sith into our order." Jedi Master Poof interjected.

"Do not play dumb, you hypocrites." The Sith Lord bellowed, then laughed again. "The pressure is on you, Jedi. We could kill the pathetic chancellor. It will still be our gain and your loss. However, I am making you a deal here. You have little choice."

"You do not frighten us, Sith Lord."Master Mace Windu retorted calmly. "Gloat while you can. The power of the Sith order shall end with you."

"Hahahahaha …"

"Elders of the Jedi Council, we bring news most dire !" Zeratul announced as he stepped through the entrance to the Council chamber, then froze as he saw the holographic projection in the middle of the room.

"Ah, what have we here ?" The dark figure turned to face Zeratul. "You do look formidable."

"You !" Zeratul roared.

Now the Sith Lord ignored Zeratul and turned back to face the others seated in the room. "Bring him to the abandoned Republic outpost on the moon TP6 in three Coruscant days. Only two persons may accompany him, else the chancellor dies !"

And with that, the holographic image flickered and vanished, leaving Zeratul staring aghast at the empty space in the middle of the room.

"You have heard what he said, strange one ?" Master Windu broke the silence.

"I … am the ransom." Zeratul shook his head, still trying to digest this latest turn of events.

"We have three Coruscant days." Master Windu tried to calm everyone. "We need not go about this exchange exactly as he demands. If our experience with the Sith has taught us anything, brothers, he is plotting something far more sinister. We must be prepared."

"I will accept his terms." Zeratul announced, drawing astonished stares from around the council chamber. "I must meet with this Sith Lord. He has something that I want."

"Oh." Adi Mundi exclaimed. "What do the younglings say ? 'Oh, shit !'"

"In deep shit we all are." Agreed the short green skinned figure seated at the far edge of the room.

-

( Wooh, I'm back.

I can't believe how many variables I always leave unfixed before the next chapter XD

But don't worry, I _have_ been thinking about this fic all this while, and now that I am free, I can type them all down. Expect a rate of update never before witnessed in fanfiction net :D

Just kidding. Please do comment. Suggestions keep me going.

Starspawn07


	6. In Transit

( Not much action in this chapter. All talking. Next chapter will be all fighting :D

And thanks for the hint, LysdexicOne ;)

**In Transit**

Three mild arches ran down from the ceiling along the dark grey walls of the half cylindrical, three metre wide and four metre long passenger cabin. Set into each each were three oval, eye like lamps which illuminated the cabin in a gentle yellow-white light. One third of a metre from the black carpeted floor, benches covered in sponge wrapped in grey synthetic leather unfolded from the wall on either side along the entire length of the cabin.

In one corner there sat a young man in brown robes, hands held out as if trying to grasp an invisible ball, eyes closed in intense concentration.

On the same bench, in the middle of the cabin was a tall humanoid figure wrapped in red and black cloth and a grey cape.

Opposite him there sat an an old, bald man in weathered grey robes, and another old man with black and white hair and robes.

"I feel it ! I feel it ! The Void, it's real ! It's … it's … " The young man muttered excitedly. A black haze gathered between his palms and sent ripples through the air around it, which flowed up around his arms, eventually engulfing his entire body, distorting the light around him so that he appeared as if seen through the unsteady surface of water. "it's … woo ! It's cold !"

The ripples dissipated, leaving him shivering and panting. The next moment, he closed his eyes and held out his hands again, ready for another attempt.

"Easy, Kart. Living things do not react well to the Void, at first." The grey caped figure advised.

Across him, the bald man said sternly. "Understand this, Zeratul. You are the only being I have seen whose mind has not been twisted by use of the Dark Side. If Kart is going deeper into this, can I have your word that he will not become another Sith Lord ?"

"I promise, Farid. If my conjectures are right, the Void and the Dark Side are not exactly the same thing. In fact, the truth is still more complex than that. " Zeratul assured the old Jedi. "A question, Jedi master. How did the Sith order come about ?"

"Long ago."Farid looked down at the floor and began recounting the history that had been passed down among practitioners of the Force for generations. "Since the beginning of the Republic, the Jedi order has practiced the Force and used the power thus cultivated to serve and to protect. I am not sure where, how or by whom the Force itself was discovered, but around seven thousand years ago, one member of the order came upon a strange revelation. He believed that by abandoning the contemplation and passiveness that was the guiding principle of the Jedi way, and totally embracing one's passions and capacity for destruction, one could attain a power far above that achieved by any Jedi. He had stumbled upon the Dark Side of the Force.

He was forbidden from teaching the Dark Side to younger Jedi. Despite warnings, he soon gathered around himself a sizeable following. They tried to take over the order, but failed and were exiled.

This dissident cult came to the world of … what was it called, Enri ?"

The other old man sitting beside Farid continued for him,"The world of Korriban, where they encountered a species adept at using the Force, called the Sith. They ruled the Sith as gods, and eventually interbred with them, so that as time went on, they became almost became one people.

Five thousand years ago, a Republic explorer vessel made first contact with the Sith Empire. One Sith Lord named Naga Sadow decided to invade the Republic and take revenge on the Jedi. Thus ensued the Great Hyperspace War.

There followed several major conflicts between the Sith and the Jedi.

Then two thousand years ago, on the world of Ruusan, the Jedi dealt a massive blow to the Sith order. Sith Lord Kaan and his army were utterly defeated, and it was thought that the Sith had been taken care of once and for all."

"However, as was soon realized, and as you can see, the Sith were not completely destroyed. They had only gone into hiding."Farid concluded. "So far, none but the members of the Jedi order know the truth of their existence."

"All that. Wars resulting from differences in beliefs." Zeratul sighed and shook his head.

"Do you sympathize with them ?" Enri raised one long white eyebrow.

"Not entirely. I have encountered one of their apprentices. The … Dark Side has clouded her spirit. She desires power above all else. The Sith are out to dominate. What they cannot control they destroy."

"Haha. Almost like you read the Sith Lords' minds through her ! " Enri laughed. "I wonder how often you do that ?" Now Enri stared at Zeratul in a manner that made him feel as if the old Jedi was the one peering into _his_ thoughts. At once, a flood of images flashed through his mind's eye. They were vague, familiar, but hard to place. Exoskeletons, magnificent structures of gold and crystal, a green glow, cold endless outer space… He had not felt so overwhelmed since … since his mind touched with that of the -

"One of their apprentices ?" Farid asked.

Zeratul shook himself free of the trance, and saw that Enri was back to his usual self, no longer staring at him. "Yes. She looks like Kart, and they seem to know each other. Who is she ?"

"That would be Kart's sister, or so he tells me. Having travelled so far, you must have also realized, that societies on different worlds treat the issue of kinship differently."

"She did mention to Kart about avenging their homeworld." Zeratul rubbed his chin. "What did she mean ?"

"Kart and Gaya were born on the world of Svarg." Farid replied. "The Svargans were a peaceful, spiritual people. Contact with the Republic had not diluted their traditional way of life. Through an as yet unknown influence, they began recently to exhibit a relatively high affinity for the Force."

Zeratul nodded as he listened. "They would make great Jedi."

"Unfortunately," Farid settled into a solemn expression. "The Sith got to them first. It seemed they had unearthed an ancient, forgotten technology of unknown origins on that planet. The Svargans could not tell us anything about those relicts, except for a selection of myths and folklore, and they had no idea what the Sith were up to. Through patient investigation we finally discovered the terrible truth: the Sith were building a superweapon that could clear the entire surface of a planet of almost all intended targets. If they were to attack Coruscant with that weapon, the Republic would be thrown into chaos."

Enri struck the back of a palm with one finger and waved both hands vigorously above him. "Poof ! Just like that !" He then pretended to choke himself and drop dead.

From a corner of the cabin came the muffled chuckles of a young man trying to hold in his laughter. "pfhpfh… stop that Enri, I am trying to concentrate !"

"By then the weapon was nearing completion."Farid continued, ignoring the horseplay going on beside him. "Enri and I were sent to sabotage its construction, but we were thwarted by the devious cunning and sheer power of the Sith Lords. We had no choice but to carry out our second plan. We had reported to the Senate about a 'dangerous separatist movement' based on Svarg, and it was agreed to send a fleet to eliminate this 'threat' to the 'stability of the Republic'. At first its role was to distract the Sith Lords' forces as we slipped in and disabled their weapon. Having failed to accomplish the latter, the fleet was notified, and they all fired on the location of the weapon." Farid closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"The Sith Lords escaped." Zeratul ventured.

"Of course."Enri chuckled. "If we could escape, so could they."

"I wish that were the end of it." Farid sighed. "The weapon … was activated. It hit the nearest target available: the planet of Svarg itself."

"By Adun !" Zeratul sat up, appalled. He flared his psionic appendages in shock. He remembered when a similar "superweapon" was used by the Protoss to defend the Dark Templar homeworld against invading Zerg forces. It wiped all Zerg off the face of Shaquras. Had the power of the Xel'Naga relict been turned against the inhabitants of the planet itself – "Genocide !"

"Yup."Enri "Except that to outside observers it seemed as if _we_ blasted the planet."

"We are to blame for not stopping the Sith Lords in time." Farid nodded. "All those lives lost. We Jedi felt it clearly throught the force." He pressed a hand against his chest. "It feels as if a large part of your being has been torn off and burnt away. It leaves you scarred and fractured within. Pain that is more than just pain."

Zeratul nodded back. He could understand exactly how that felt.

"When the dust had settled, we returned to Svarg to look for any survivors. We searched the surface of Svarg for days. The weapon had turned most of the once lush world into a barren landscape. There were little signs of life. Charred forests here, smouldering fields there. Crumbling ruins were all that was left of the Svargan's civilization. And then, we found a group of survivors, Kart among them. They lived on the other side of the planet, far from the weapon. It devastated his homeland as well, but by some miracle, it could not kill them all.

The Force was strong in him, I could feel. When he saw me, he asked if I knew where his sister was. He thought that since I was Jedi, I should know. I explained that it was not that simple. Then he asked if he could become a Jedi." Farid laughed bitterly. "I … had failed to prevent the tragedy that had befallen the people of Svarg. It felt almost criminal to deny the young Svargan his wish. So I took him in.

Kart never met his sister until years later, on Coruscant. What she was doing there I did not know. They met by chance, and though they instantly recognized each other, they did well to hide their affiliations from one another, it seemed. Kart had never seen a Dark Jedi until then, and neither he nor I, when he told me about it later, suspected that she was with the Sith.

He next saw his sister in the cave where we found you. You know the rest.

She is lost to us now. Another reminder of the dreadful consequences of our attack on Svarg."

"She is not." Zeratul replied. "I believe it is a matter of discipline."

"What do you mean ?"Farid.

My turn to tell stories, Zeratul thought. "Members of my species share a psionic link with each other." Zeratul stroked the nerve chords behind his head with his claws. "Together with that is the ability to access certain psionic abilities considered unique to the Protoss. You can say that we are born attuned to the Force, perhaps in the same manner as the Korriban Sith, or the Svargans, if they were to evolve further. The Ancient Ones, the Xel'Naga, saw that we were endowed with the purity of form, and decided to guide our evolution. Secretly, they protected and nurtured our species. As our civilization covered every corner on the world of Aiur, the Ancient Ones revealed themselves to us.

At first they were revered. And then, our ancestors were gripped with paranoia and individualism. Motivated by an irrational fear of their own creators, they turned on the Xel'Naga and drove them away. The Link was temporarily dissolved, and Aiur entered an era of chaos and bloodshed.

Then the great scholar Khas unearthed the forgotten teachings and technology of the Xel'Naga, and with them he revived the Link. He preached Khala, the 'Path of Ascension', reestablishing peace and stability to Protoss society. However, there were those who refused to submit their wills to this new world order." Zeratul leaned back and narrowed his eyes. "I was one of the last batch of exiles from the Homeworld, before it fell to alien invasion."

"Interesting." Farid smiled. "The Khala, this was the discipline you were talking about ?"

"Yes." Zeratul nodded. "The great warrior Adun taught the Rogue Tribes how to wield the psionic powers of the Templar, but without the discipline of the Khala, the members of the Rogue Tribes were unable to control their powers, bringing violence and destruction wherever they went. And thus group by group they were forced to leave the Homeworld.

Calling ourselves Dark Templar, we cut off our nerve chords, thus severing our connections to the Link. And that was when we discovered the Void."

Zeratul held up one hand, palm up as if supporting a sphere. The orange glow in his eyes intensified. A red haze materialized above his hand, condensing into a black core in its centre. The air around it shimmered and rippled. He held it out towards Farid, and the Jedi Master felt a slight tinge of cold numbness wash over his body.

"I see." Farid nodded as well. "Your people had a disastrous brush with the Dark Side of the Force. To keep it under control, the regular Templar follow the Path of Ascension, while Dark Templar, like you, shun the Force and learn to wield an altogether different energy."

The ball of Void energy thinned out and vanished. Zeratul sat back. "I am different now. I have learned to wield the Light energy of the Templar as well. It is possible to merge them, but I have been unable to achieve that."

"I see you will have a lot to teach Kart." Farid leaned forward. "The boy seems to have taken quite a liking towards you. After this mission is over, I'll h –"

"Sorry, to interrupt, Jedi Master Farid. We have landed on the prescribed location on TP6." Came the voice from the cockpit. "The surroundings appear safe. Despite being designated a moon, it is still massive enough to have a breathable atmosphere. You may proceed. Be careful, and good luck."

"Of course it has a breathable atmosphere." Enri laughed. "Can you imagine the Black-Cloaks fighting in space suits ? Their enemies will probably laugh to death before getting struck down by their light sabres. Haha …"

"Thank you, pilot. May the Force be with you." Farid announced towards one end of the passenger cabin.

On the other end of the cabin, a rectangular section of the wall slid into one side, and a dim blue light shone in from outside.

Farid look towards the inner corner of the cabin, where sat a shivering figure blurred and obscured by a severe rippling in the air around it. "Stay here and wait for us, Kart. If all goes well, we should be back in a standard hour or two."

"C … can't I come along asss well, Master ?" Kart stammered in reply.

"No, Kart, only two persons can accompany Zeratul."

"Brr … w … why alwaysss do w-what we arrre told ?"

"Whatever we do, Kart, we take the lives of others into consideration. That is how we are different from the Sith."

"O ookay … sssee you later."

Farid stood up, followed by Enri and Zeratul. They walked over to the exit of the shuttle, and stepped out into the open.

-

( See you later.

This should be no longer than Grey Templar 1, but I think the plot now makes more sense XD

Starspawn07 )


	7. Exchange

**Exchange**

They had landed on a plateau, the largest of the stone tables which made up a large part of the surrounding landscape. From cracks and crevices among the lead black rock, what appeared to be water gushed out to form tiny pools, which reflected the blue light from the sky like large irregular mirrors lain on the ground. Around these pools grew extensive clusters of tall horsetails. Thin steam rose from the surface of the water and dissipated in mid air.

Before them, on the other side of the plateau, were a comglomeration of gigantic grayish white domes, ranging in size from one in the middle that rivaled the senate building, probably a hangar or housing some secret weapon, to smaller camps along the edges of the facility, compacted into each other like bubbles adhering to one another. Unlike bubbles, these were made of stone, and their outer surfaces were covered in intricate, overlapping angular patterns which resembled oversized circuitry partially covered by their protective plates. Some of the domes had caved in here and there, probably further signs of disrepair.

At the base of each large dome were dark, semicircular doorways spaced roughly forty five degrees apart, each large enough to allow a speeder through, but not anything bigger.

And from one door there appeared a shadowy figure in a black hooded cloak. To his left was a shorter figure in black robes.

Behind them were four tall lean figures in flowing purple and black robes, carrying long thin lances. Their faces were totally hidden under their hoods except for a red glow from their eyes. Further behind came forty battle droids, each equipped with a laser blasters clipped onto its hands, who spread out to the sides as they advanced together with the shadowy figure and his entourage. The latter approached the two Jedi and the Protoss warrior who had just emerged from the shuttle on the opposite side of the plateau, until they were ten metres apart from each other.

The shadowy figure lifted his hood to reveal a face painted blood red, and covered in a tattoo comprised of black angularly curved strips which converged around the eyes, mouth and darkened the whole area behind his head, to give his face the appearance of a skull. His irises were a shocking gold, with orange fringes. His glare was threatening and unwavering. In place of hair, he had short horny spikes protruding up the top of his scalp.

The Sith Lord grimaced, showing his horrible black teeth. "Hand him over." His speech was deep, precise, and menacing.

"So you are the Sith Lord ?" Enri called out. "You appear different from the one we met last time."

"Darth Maul, foremost apprentice of the Dark Lord." The Sith Lord scowled back impatiently. He stared at Zeratul for a while. "Hand him over."

"Where is the Chancellor ?" Farid asked.

"Hand the renegade Sith over." Darth Maul demanded.

"We need to know that the Chancellor is safe." Farid explained.

"He is." Darth Maul replied. "Hand over the renegade Sith !"

Zeratul, getting fed up with the way he was being labeled, stepped forward and proclaimed. "You are mistaken, Sith Lord. I am not one of you. I will come with you, but we want to be certain that the … Chancellor is unharmed."

"Silence !" Darth Maul roared, glaring angrily in Zeratul's direction, eyes on fire. The Grey Templar obliged.

"If you will not hand him over, then we will take him by Force !" Darth Maul detached his light sabre from his belt. It was twice as long as the hilt of the weapon of a Jedi. He turned it on. A metre long rod of bright red light extended out from both ends of the hilt. With blinding speed, he dashed straight for Zeratul.

The Grey templar ignited his warp blades and hurriedly took a step back just as a rod of red light was swung down towards him, striking an invisible barrier a metre away from him, causing a blinding flash and a shower of sparks at the point of impact.

The strength of the blow caused Zeratul to stagger back even further. Just as he regained his balance, he saw the rod of red light strike his plasma shield again, and again and again, until the latter had thinned out. Reeling from the Sith Lord's relentless attack, Zeratul raised and crossed his warp blades, catching the striking blade of Darth Maul's light sabre between them.

"What does the Master see in you ?" Darth Maul growled. "There is no place for you. Die !" Without warning he lifted the forward end of his light sabre and brought the other end down and forward to strike Zeratul from below.

Zeratul spun and pulled himself backwards to his right, allowing the red blade to slash harmlessly through the empty air where he stood a moment ago. Simultaneously he punched to his right, thrusting the warp blade on his right hand at the Sith Lord's face.

Completing the upward slash, Darth Maul brought the attacking end of his light sabre close to his face and parried Zeratul's stab. The latter thrust another warp blade at the Sith Lord's face, and again Darth Maul deflected the blow.

Now Zeratul's eyes glowed a fiery orange. The air around him began to shimmer and ripple, distorting his appearance and breaking up his outline. Within seconds, his entire figure seemed to fragment and dissolve until he had totally vanished.

"Petty illusions." Darth Maul cursed. He closed his eyes and reached out through the Force. At once, he felt something shift to his left, and bent down hurriedly as an invisible thread slashed into where his midsection would have been if he had not ducked down in time. The unseen blade cut through the back of his hood and proceeded to shear off the back of his robe. Like his face, the rest of his body was painted red and covered in black tattoos.

"Show yourself !" He bellowed and pointed an open palm forward. Several black boulders dislodged themselves from the rock around him and hurled themselves at the space where he last felt the presence of the invisible opponent. To his surprise, they split cleanly into several pieces in midair and flew apart in several directions. "I see you !" He closed his palm.

Zeratul gasped as the ground beneath him cracked and shards of rock shot up towards him like daggers, while he struggled to prevent himself from slipping into the gaps opened up below.

"Time runs short. Another time, renegade Sith." Darth Maul turned and sauntered back towards one of the dome like structures.

…

"Last one down !" Enri flipped his light sabre up, catching a laser beam and reflecting it back onto the head of the last battle droid, which went up in smoke and collapsed, sparks flying from its head. "Um … four more to go."

"Stand down !" Farid shouted at the four tall lean soldiers approaching them. The latter ignored his warning and pointed their lances at the two Jedi whom they had surrounded. A purple rod of light, slightly shorter than the blade of a light sabre, emerged and extended forward from the tip of each lance.

All at once they charged at Farid and Enri.

"Their weapons." Farid whispered to his friend, who nodded and whispered back. "You turn them up."

They stood back to back, each pointing his light sabre forward in his own direction. The four soldiers were within three metres of them now.

Farid creased his eyebrows in deep concentration and raised an arm, open palm facing skywards.

Now just as they were about to run their lances through the two Jedi, the soldiers suddenly felt the front of their weapons being pulled up at the same time by an unseen, incredibly strong force. The next moment, they were standing a metre away from Farid and Enri, lances pointed upwards. As they struggled to bring their weapons down, the two Jedi swung their lightsabres before them in a wide arc.

The top portions of all four lances broke off and dropped harmlessly onto the ground in unison. Stunned, their wielders stood and stared down with glowing red unblinking eyes.

The next moment, they were thrown backwards as if something heavy was rammed into their waists, and flew off in four directions towards the edges of the plateau.

"Seems we still got it, partner." Enri patted Farid on the back. "If only we could see their faces !"

"They were likely droids." Farid said. "I could sense no life in them."

"Oh ? Maybe we should have cut _them_ in half instead." Seeing Farid's stern glare, he waved and laughed. "I know, I know, we Jedi do not kill unless we have no choice. However, our enemies do not think that way."

"We are no longer sure how the Sith think. I sense that there is more to this than just a simple exchange." Farid frowned as he pondered the situation.

"Oh, perhaps _she_ could tell us." Enri pointed forward.

Farid looked up to see a young woman in black robes standing before them. She had red hair tied into braids and claw like tattoos on her face.

"You must be Kart's sister." Farid smiled.

"So Kart told you." Gaya forced a smile as well, eyebrows raised sarcastically. "And you must be the Jedi scum who ruined my homeworld and slaughtered my people."

"So your masters told you." The smile faded from Farid's face.

"Yes, and the Master has promised me, that if I kill you, I will become Lord Maul's equal, His favoured apprentice !" Her eyes shone with excitement as Gaya fingered the lightsabre at her belt. "And here you came !"

"The Sith do not keep their promises. History has shown that." Farid replied calmly.

"- but the Dark Side does."Gaya retorted. "Vengeance is all I care for now."

"And what will you do once you have achieved that ?" Farid asked.

"You Jedi and your stupid questions." Gaya spat. She slid out her light sabre, turned it on, and leapt at the Jedi Master with a yell.

-

"Rest assured, Vice Chairman. We will rescue the Chancellor." Mace Windu proclaimed to the holographic projection of the blue skinned creature in the centre of his room. He pressed the fingertips on each hand against each other, forming a triangle, and rested his chin on the thumbs to hide his own frustration.

"You need to hurry, Jedi Master. " The Vice Chair of the Galactic Senate stressed. "We are trying very hard to keep the Chancellor's absence a secret."

"The retrieval of the Chancellor is already underway. We have already negotiated a deal with the Sith."

"The Sith !" Mas Amedda flared the lethorns drooping down the sides of his neck onto his chest.

"Real they are." Said the green skinned, donkey eared dwarf sitting beside Windu, stabbing the lower tip of his wooden staff at the floor to show his conviction.

"That's makes _two_ big secrets we are trying to keep from the public, Master Yoda."Amedda said. "Now, I trust that they are real, but how will you deal with them ?"

"Unfortunately, we have no idea where their base is, or who the Sith Lord is, so there is nothing we can do against them. For now, we have sent two of our agents to make a … n exchange with them."

"Two agents ?" Amedda jerked his head back. "Exchange ?"

"We have captured … found a person, who appears to be a master in the Dark Side of the Force. We suspected that he was a Sith. Only, he denies any affiliation with the Sith." Windu explained.

"That I believe." Yoda added in.

Amedda stared at the two Jedi Grandmasters. "So ?"

"The Sith Lord who contacted us wanted us to hand him over in exchange for the Chancellor." Windu replied.

"Are you trying to confuse me, Jedi Master ?" Amedda tilted his head and raised a brow ridge.

"Just as confused we are."Yoda shrugged.

"No matter. The important thing now is to get the Chancellor back safe and sound. If there is anyway I can help, please do tell me." With that, the translucent projected image of Mas Amedda flickered and disappeared.

"Is this alright, Master Yoda ? Sending Farid and Enri with the strange one to TP6, when we have yet to figure out the Sith's true intentions. If I remember, Farid brought his apprentice along as well." Windu whispered.

"No, it is not."Yoda replied.

At this Windu sat up straight, showing the worried look on his face.

"Beyond our control this is."Yoda added, shaking his head sadly.

-

"I can do it, I can do it !" Kart muttered to himself. He took a deep breath and tried to bend light around himself again. The air around him shimmered and rippled.

On the opposite side of the passenger cabin, sat a middle aged man in a grey suit and cap. He watched amused as the young shivered while holding up his hands before him like an old man doing his morning exercise. "You look cold and pale. You sure you are alright ?"

"I am." Kart replied. He was no longer trembling as profusely as just now, but still this was getting nowhere. _He can still see __me ?__ How long must I go at __this ?_

He closed his eyes and went over what Zeratul had said. '_Clear your mind of resistance. Do not resist the cold.__'_

_How would I resist the __cold ?_ _What __is resisting the __cold ?_

_'Living things do not react well to the Void at first.'_

_Living things …_

Kart frowned. What did master Farid say about living things ?

'_Life creates the Force__, and the Force strengthens life. It is an energy that flows through and surrounds all life."_

_'… __while__ Dark Templar, like you, shun the Force and learn to wield an altogether different energy.'_

Kart felt for the presence of the Force within him. More precisely, he just looked. It was always there, a warm sky-blue light which covered his whole body, giving him strength, and connected him with similar lights all around him. With all life. The latter appeared as a constellation of blue stars which stretched out endlessly in all directions.

He willed this light to fade away. It dimmed and receded within him. At the same time the lights around him drew further and further away, until all around him it was nothing but pitch darkness. The Void.

Then, dim red points of light appeared and took the place of the bright blue constellation. The lights approached him, touched him, and filled him with a dim red light of his own, sending chills throughout his body. What was more, he found that he could manipulate this deathly radiance just as he could manipulate the Force, concentrate them where he wanted them, or disperse them. Effortlessly, he directed its flow out and around his body, until it formed a sphere encasing a space of total darkness in which he resided.

The optical distortion occurring around Kart's body took on a rhythmic nature. Waves flowed over him, and broke up his appearance into warped, disconnected strips which thinned out, until he could not be seen anymore.

The pilot stood up and stared in shock at the seemingly empty bench where Kart just sat. "Jedi. Are you still there ?" He asked in concern, then jumped as he heard the young Jedi's voice.

"Yes I am." Kart replied excitedly.

-

Gaya was breathing quite heavily from exhaustion. She held her light sabre up and kept her gaze on the Jedi Master standing before her. A few disheveled braids fell over her forehead and partially covered her face, giving her stare an even more murderous quality.

Farid returned the stare with a calm look, and pointed his light sabre down at the ground behind him, while pressing his other hand against his heart. It was a gesture used by older Jedi to show that he had no intention of continuing this fight, that further aggression was pointless. It was an expression of the Jedi philosophy of peace.

And it irked her. _Philosophy of peace my foot_. She hated the Jedi and their hypocrisies.

"You lack discipline, child. Follow … the Path of Ascension. Fight not for your own desires, but fight to protect. Do not let the Dark Side control you. It is still not too late !" Farid appealed to her, mostly to distract her, but part of him also wanted to believe what Zeratul had said, that one who had fallen to the Dark Side could still be saved.

Now Gaya laughed. "Don't lecture me about discipline, old man."

Farid could sense from her a dogged determination to get what she wanted. It reminded him of Kart's motivation to learn anything new, through whatever methods allowed. In a way, both siblings desired power. The power to dominate their own destinies. The power to right the wrongs that had been done to them.

How much pain had Gaya endured in her brutal Dark Jedi training? How much disappointment had Kart felt when he was told that what he asked for was against the rules?

For a moment, Farid was overcome with doubt. He was unable to fill the void in the spirits of these two youngsters. Perhaps, Zeratul's arrival would finally –

"DIE !"

Farid snapped out of his trance just in time to see Gaya rushing at him with light sabre upraised and screaming loudly. The latter's tip was now half a metre from his face.

Then a blue rod of light shot out from the side one foot in front and below her face, causing her to halt in mid charge and gulp in panic, the rod of light just a centimeter from her throat. "Play time is over." Enri remarked coldly.

"Wait …" Gaya stammered. "I can show you where the Chancellor is."

Composing himself, Farid smiled and motioned for both Enri and Gaya to keep their weapons. "Lead the way, child."

-

( Lead the way, readers ;)

Sorry for hanging from the cliff all the time, Greypezzola. Can't help it. It is such an addictive sport lol.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !

- Starspawn07 )


	8. Two for the Sith

**Two for the ****Sith**

The hanger appeared more spacious from the inside than outside. Through a long elliptical opening in the middle of the enclosing dome, dim blue skylight shone in onto the middle of the white floor below, providing the only source of illumination except for the entrance at the side. Sections of the rest of the ceiling had broken off and fallen onto the floor below, turning the interior of the facility into a rocky mess. There was no aircraft kept in here except for one medium sized shuttle whose outline could be vaguely seen within the shadow.

In the middle of the area lit up by light from above, there stood a pile of grey and white rubble from the middle of which arose a triangular section of the ceiling, roughly the size of a small hut, which jutted up and bent gently forward, pointing towards the entrance. Sitting on the rubble and leaning against the smooth white concave face of the curved obelisk, was an old man with silvery white hair and a stern, clean shaven face, dressed in heavy, dark blue ceremonial robes. His hands were tied up behind him, and a piece of white cloth was wrapped tightly around the lower half of his face to completely cover his mouth.

Chancellor Finis Valorum stared ahead at the shining semicircle that was the entrance to the hanger.

Presently, three figures appeared against the hazy grey light of the entrance.

-

"There he is." Gaya pointed at the pile of rubble in the middle of the hangar as she stepped into through the entrance.

"Let's make this quick." Farid said.

"Mmhmm." Enri agreed.

The two Jedi walked briskly towards the Chancellor, Gaya following close behind.

The Chancellor started struggling violently against his bonds as he saw them approach. He grunted loudly and glared at them, eyes wide.

As they were five metres away from the Chancellor, Farid halted. "Something's not right." He sensed through the Force a mix of strong emotions from the figure sitting before them. Excitement. Elation from seeing his rescuers … and also a deep dread, as if something horrible was about to occur.

"Not right indeed." Enri looked around them. There was a faint rumbling sound coming from everywhere.

In the shadows were other piles of rubble. Without warning, they appeared to explode, and dark spheres popped out from within them, rolling towards the centre of the floor. They were black, with a strong metallic sheen, and appeared like curled up pillbugs, each roughly a metre in diameter.

As all twenty one of them rolled to a stop ten metres away from the two Jedi, each one of them unfurled itself to stand on four arthropod legs issuing from a foot-ball shaped base which supported a stalk-like, segmented waist, which supported a formidable upper body consisting of two long humanoid arms and a metal plate for a hood, all bristling with gun barrels aimed at the two Jedi. They were lined up into a horseshoe with its back against the entrance and mouth at the pile of rubble in the middle, effectively surrounding the four people and cutting off their path of retreat.

Each of the droids stood roughly two metres tall. The air around it shimmered slightly, like a bubble containing the machine. Droidekas, complete with force shields.

"Jedi, so predictable. !" From behind the fallen section of the ceiling, there stepped out a figure in tattered black robes. The top of its cloth had mostly been ripped off, revealing blood red skin covered in symmetrical angularly twisted black stripes. Its head and face was red and covered in similar tattoos as well. Small horns sprouted from its bald scalp.

Darth Maul stared and grinned sadistically at the two Jedi. "The Dark Lord's prediction was correct. Today we deal a heavy blow to both the Republic and the Jedi Council !"

At that the droidekas opened fire.

Instinctively, Enri dashed up to stand right in front of the Chancellor and spun round, just in time to catch and deflect the first round of laser fire. The bright green beams were bounced off onto the surrounding floor. One struck through the force shield of a droideka and it reeled slightly. Another was caught and deflected by Darth Maul's own light sabre as he leapt out of sight.

And they kept firing.

Farid turned around to face the entrance as the semicircle of droidekas fired at him in unison. Expertly, he spun his activated light sabre in a barely visible blur and deflected every beam in an instant. He kept up his defence. Each successive round of fire became more intense than the last one and tested his Jedi Master reflexes to their limit.

And then he sensed something shift suddenly behind him, and he bent down immediately, rolling forward to narrowly avoid the wide horizontal slash from Gaya's light sabre.

The Dark Jedi ran up after Farid, weapon upraised.

Now on his back three metres away from the nearest droideka, he whirled his lightsabre around him to deflect a round of laser fire, then held up his weapon just as Gaya swung hers down on him.

"This is your end, three eyes !" Gaya scowled, pressing down with all her strength.

"It's still not too late." All three of Farid's eyes narrowed. They caught Gaya's gaze. As she looked into them, they seemed to glow a pale translucent brown, like raw topaz.

Farid took advantage of the brief hypnotism to push Gaya away, then leapt to his feet, backed up close to her, then swung his light sabre broadly, deflecting several laser blasts which would have hit Gaya as well, if he had not stood before her.

His concentration slightly divided, Farid missed four beams which burnt and sizzled through the cloth covering his right shin, the left side of his waist, his left elbow and his left shoulder. He fell to his knees and clutched his left arm, resisting the urge to shout in pain.

Gaya stared aghast, first at the fact that Farid had used his unique species ability against her, secondly that the Jedi master had just saved her life.

"You !" She screamed angrily. Leaning back and pointing her light sabre backwards, he gave Farid a kick to the back with such force that sent him hurtling forward past the droidekas and towards the entrance.

"Master !" Someone exclaimed near where he collapsed.

Seemingly out of thin air, the figure of a younger Jedi and a tall scaly warrior wrapped in red and black cloth appeared and rushed to Farid's side.

"Look out !" the Jedi master groaned, before burying half his face into the ground.

Nearby droidekas had turned around to face the newcomers. Without hesitation, they opened fire.

In one step, Zeratul positioned himself before both Farid and Kart. All the laser blasts hit an invisible barrier around him, and dissolved into ripples, like fire drowning in water. His plasma shield had just regenerated enough to take this one round of fire.

From behind the Grey Templar, Kart leapt up and over him, landing right beside the nearest droideka. Before the latter could shoot him, he ignited his weapon and took a broad swipe at the two metre tall droid. The thread of concentrated energy tore through the droideka's force shield with ease and sliced off its arms and snout.

Zeratul leapt at another droideka. Halfway, his appeareance blurred and he faded out of sight. The next moment, said droideka's force shield began to sparkle and baulk on one side, as if it were a window pane being pounded by invisible hailstones. Now the shield shorted out, but before the droid realized what was going on, it fell apart and collapsed onto the ground in several pieces, its arms, legs and head having been cleanly shorn off all at once by invisible knives.

"Adun Torridaz !" Came a low resounding voice. Then another droideka had its shield shorted out and fell to pieces.

Enri felt an significant amount of energy being gathered near him and turned left just as Darth Maul unleashed a gust of Force lightning at him.

Enri caught the bright blue bolts and absorbed them into his lightsabre.

The both of them held this position for a while. Enri frowned as he withstood the Sith Lord's attack, while Darth Maul grimaced as he tried to overpower the Jedi.

Then Enri felt another presence near him, and looked to his right to see Gaya pointing her light sabre at him. Her eyes revealed a mix of excitement and uncertainty.

"Do it !" Darth Maul ordered.

At this Enri looked at the Dark Jedi and smiled. "This is my end."

Gaya's face darkened, and she plunged the red blade of her light sabre through Enri's chest, then withdrew it quickly in shock.

A bright blue phosphorescence trickled out from the gash on Enri's chest. There was a blinding flash, then both Gaya and Darth Maul staggered back and fell unconscious to the floor. Behind him, the Chancellor stopped glaring in fright and drooped down.

Laughing, Enri collapsed as well.

…

"No !" Kart sliced the last droideka in half at the waist and rushed to Enri's side.

"Tell me you are alright." The young Jedi stared at the gash in the older Jedi's chest in horror and concern. The wound emitted a flickering blue glow, which got dimmer as the seconds went by.

"Haha, no physical being lives forever, Kart." Enri chuckled meekly, then coughed. "This … this current shell of mine should have expired long ago."

"You have been gravely injured, old one." Zeratul appeared on Enri's other side. "Speak no more."

_Old I am indeed, First Born._

Zeratul jerked his head back, eyes wide.

_It has been an eternity since I last saw your kind. You are truly magnificent.__ I am proud._

"How …" Zeratul stuttered. "You are …" Zeratul was out of words. A thousand storms raged through his mind. Each flash of lightning lit up a particular memory or thought, and then it was dissolved in the rain, blown away by the wind, to be replaced by the next.

_I have __been wanting__ to talk to you__, seriously__. I truly did not intend to get killed again so soon._ "Not much time left…" Enri muttered.

"Yes, there is time." Kart whispered, trying to suppress the tone of anguish in his voice. "Come with us. You'll be fine." He slid a hand under Enri's back, ready to help him up.

_In a way I am fine. This cycle ends, the new cycle__ begins._

"Please … conserve your strength … rest, old one !" Zeratul pleaded "There are many things I want to ask you about !"

_The answer is there to see, so long as you know how to discern it. Not everything is as it seems, First Born._

"I … I still don't understand." Zeratul shook his head.

_Not all of us stand for the same things. We can be your salvation, or we could destroy all that you hold dear. Either way, we have no right to decide your fate. Walk your own path …_"Go !" Enri blurted. "My psionic pulse has … knocked them out, but … it is not permanent, take … the chancellor … nd Farid … go !"

"No, I will not leave you !" Kart cried.

Again Enri laughed. His whole body began to glow a pale blue. Then it burst into blue flames.

Kart withdrew his hands and fell back, staring at the spontaneously combusting body with jaws agape. "Enri !"

And then the old Jedi was gone. Boiled away. Burnt down to nothing at all.

_The Force be with you, First __Born !_

Both Kart and Zeratul stood staring at the spot where Enri had lain moments ago.

Then they snapped out of their trance together and nodded to each other.

"Master Farid !"

"The chancellor !"

"Right !"

"Make haste !"

Kart rushed towards the hangar entrance while Zeratul grabbed Finis Valorum, still tied up, by the waist, slung the unconscious Chancellor over his shoulder, and walked after the young Jedi.

Halfway to the entrance, Kart bent down over Farid and helped his master up.

Then all four of them hurriedly exited the hangar.

…

"Holy trash, what happened ?" The man in the grey suit and cap exclaimed as he helped Kart and Farid into the shuttle.

Behind the two, Zeratul dumped the Chancellor onto the floor of the shuttle from outside. Finis awoke with a start and groaned.

"You must leave this moon at once." Zeratul said hurriedly as he proceeded to free the Chancellor from his bonds.

"Oh."The pilot nodded and rushed over to the cockpit. "Understood." There arose a low mechanical whining sound which became louder and louder.

"You are coming with us !" Kart shouted.

"No, I have to end this." Zeratul shouted back.

"Then I'll stay with you !" Kart stood and stepped out of the shuttle. "Pilot, close the door !"

"Are you sure ?" Came the voice from the cockpit.

"Do not be rash, Jedi Knights !" the Chancellor said under his breath "The republic needs you !"

"The republic needs you too, Sir !" Kart uttered the nearest reply he could think of. "We must ensure your safety !"

The Chancellor sighed and shook his head.

"Be … safe … too." Farid groaned.

"Kart …" Zeratul began.

"Pilot, close the damn door and get out of here !" Kart shouted.

The shuttle door slid shut, and the white space craft lifted itself off the ground. It's two moth –like wings, as well as the dorsal wing on top, extended till they doubled in length. At the tip of each wing, a tube opened towards the back of the shuttle and blew out a steady stream of glowing blue gas, like a flame pointing sideways.

The shuttle hurled itself forward and turned up towards the sky. Soon, it appeared no larger than a moth. And then, it vanished.

"Jedi fools."

Zeratul and Kart spun round, and saw Darth Maul and Gaya standing five metres away from them.

At the sight of the Sith Lord, the anger returned to Kart. The latter shifted his gaze slowly from Darth Maul, to his sister, then back to Darth Maul again. He stared murderously at them both, and gripped the hilt of his light sabre tightly, activating it in the process. "You will pay for what you did today."

Darth Maul sneered and switched on his own weapon. "The Dark Side welcomes you."

Kart roared and leapted at the Sith Lord. Zeratul hurriedly ignited his warp blades and ran after him.

There was a bright flash as thin thread of energy clashed with red rod of light. Kart and Darth Maul locked sabres, while Zeratul and Gaya stared each other down, keeping an eye on one another and another eye on his or her so called comrade.

Spinning his light sabre down, Darth Maul effortlessly parried Kart's weapon aside and prepared to slash at the young Jedi. The latter leapt back, narrowly avoiding a thrust at his throat. Before he could steady himself, he was forced to raise his light sabre to block a swing from above, while almost in a kneeling position

"You fight well,"Darth Maul grinned. "but the power of the Dark Side shall defeat all."

Kart felt his blood boil. Anger, frustration, misery. Death of a close friend. Sister's betrayal. Defeat.

_Power_.

"Defeat this !" Kart suddenly felt a new strength flow through his body. He stood up abruptly, forcing the astonished Sith Lord back by several steps.

As the young Jedi subconsciously connected with the mystical crystal inside the hilt of his light sabre, his desire to defeat his enemy caused the blade to lengthen by half a metre. The blue haze around the thread of white light condensed, then swelled into a blue flame.

In a blur of movement, Kart dashed at Darth Maul and swung the extended psi blade at the Sith Lord. The latter held up his light sabre to block the Jedi's fierce onslaught, but upon contact the red rod of light contorted itself and broke up into twisted strips, then gave in to the psi blade. The Sith Lord jerked back to avoid his opponent's weapon, whose tip came within a hair's width from his chest. He staggered back and tripped, falling smack on his back.

Kart leaned in, raised his weapon high over his head, and prepared to swing it down onto his enemy.

And then he stopped, appalled.

They held that pose for a few seconds.

"I am not like you." Kart, muttered, looking over at his sister and. He slowly backed away. His psi blade shrank to its original state.

"Bad choice." Darth Maul laughed, then pointed a hand at Kart. At once, several bolts of Force Lightning shot out from his fingertips and caught the young Jedi by surprise.

"Kart !" Zeratul dashed towards Darth Maul and pointed a warp blade at the Sith Lord's chest. "Release him !" The eyes of the Protoss warrior flashed bright blue, and the lightning issuing from Darth Maul's fingers diminished.

"We win, Scaly."

Zeratul turned to see Gaya pointing her light sabre at his own chest.


	9. Installation

**Installation**

"This entire chain of events had been mastermined by Kerrigan. And we played right into her hands !" The young Protoss warrior in tattered armour slammed a fist furiously into the palm of his other hand.

"Yes we did, Artanis." Zeratul sighed and looked around the simple meeting room that was a pale imitation of the Templar function rooms back on Aiur. Instead of a shining gold, everything was constructed of a bone white stone. The room was circular. A large section of the wall was transparent, allowing a generous view of the starry cityscape of New Antioch, one of the current political centres of both the dark templar, and the Protoss survivors of the Zerg invasion of Aiur who have taken refuge on this world of perpetual twilight.

Smooth white pillars stood at wide intervals in this window and curved in slightly at the top like gigantic ribs, supporting a flat white featureless ceiling. At the latter's middle there was a round opening with raised edges, like a barrel turned upside down and plunged halfway into the stonework. Directly below this feature, on the flat white floor was a similar opening, facing up. In between them, held vertically in mid air by an invisible force field, was a half metre long, trigonal flawless crystal, which emitted a strong blue glow, lighting up the faces of the protoss warriors seated around it.

"Yet our course is set nonetheless. Using the Temple's energies against the renegade Zerg may accomplish Kerrigan's aim, but it is our only chance of survival."

"And survive we will, my warriors !" Nodded an aged female warrior sitting opposite him. Her nerve chords fan out from behind her head and drooped down close to her cheeks like braids. Most of her scales had fallen, leaving behind a pale grey leathery complexion. She was dressed in long thin red and brown flowing robes rather than the tight face scarfs and loin cloth of younger dark templar. "Too long have we labored in futile defense as our enemies pushed us further and further away from victory. The time has come to let loose the full fury of our powers. Never again shall Shaquras be despoiled by the foul touch of alien species. These Zerg shall be the first to fall before us."

Zeratul looked over at her, and his eyes narrowed. "Matriarch, I have served you for millennia. I have always valued your strength and your wisdom. Yet, recently, in your mind, I sense something that clouds your true spirit. Kerrigan may have left, but I wonder if her treachery remains."

The Matriarch smiled meekly and waved a hand. "Be at ease, Zeratul. I am still the same Raszagal that you have always known. Recent events have weighed down heavily me, and I am wearied. Worry not. My warrior spirit shall continue to shine before you, and light your path to victory."

"Indeed …" Zeratul raised a brow ridge.

"The time for action is upon us !" Artanis announced, and waved his hand in front of the crystal. Holographic projections of labeled maps, text and flow charts appeared around the crystal. The young praetor proceeded to explain the plan of action.

Zeratul glared at the floating images, and tried hard to pay attention. They blurred frequently, and he found it hard to distinguish them from the images that were going through his own mind. His traumatic experience with the Overmind. Antioch going up in flames. Tassadar's self sacrifice. The death of Aldaris …

"Zeratul, are you with us ?"

Someone tugging at him.

"Zeratul, wake up !"

-

"Wake up !" Kart shook Zeratul by the shoulder. "We need to get out of here !"

Zeratul opened his eyes, gasped, and looked around him. He was leaning against the wall of a small rectangular empty cell, Kart sitting beside him.

The ceiling, floor, and all three walls were painted black. On the forth side, where Zeratul was facing, the cell was closed off by a line of thin vertical columns of red light, ten centimetres apart from each other, projected from ceiling to floor. A laser barrier.

Beyond that was a grey corridor running from his left to his right, whose walls leaned in slightly and were rounded at the corners, like the inside of a windowless train. They were lit up by phosphorescent lamps set into the ceiling.

Zeratul stood up and rubbed his head. "I must have been exhausted. Did something happen to us ?"

"Nothing." Kart heard his stomach growling. "In fact, we haven't even eaten for quite some time. Don't you feel hungry ?"

Zeratul laughed softly and removed his face scarf to reveal a lower face with nothing but a few gill slits below the cheek and chin. "I don't eat solid food."

"Oh." Kart chuckled as well. "Never mind. We need to think of a way to escape from here."

"Agreed." Zeratul clenched his fists, and felt something odd about his hands.

"I just remembered." Kart shrugged in apology. "They took our weapons."

"Damn them." Zeratul cursed, and stared frowning at the laser beams encaging them within the cell.

"Damn them …" Kart agreed as he stared at the columns of red light as well. "Wait … the Void allows us to manipulate the path of light, right ?" His face lit up.

"Correct." Zeratul nodded slowly, the frown gradually disappearing.

"Can't we bend those beams away ?" Kart pointed at the laser barrier.

"We could try." Zeratul stood up and walked over to stand just a foot away from the barrier. He opened his palms and faced them forward. His eyes glowed a fiery orange as he called on the power of the Void.

Sections of the laser beams that were directly in front of him began to flicker. Soon, they began to ripple like ribbons blown up by a breeze. Starting from the bottom, the beams broke up into wavering strips which thinned and drifted away, shortening them upwards, while the light from the points of projection at the ceiling became more intense, as if the beams were being redirected back into the their source.

Now Kart stood beside Zeratul, imitating his posture and concentrated deeply, calling upon the energies of the Void as well.

The entire laser barrier broke up and sublimed into a glaring constellation of red light in the ceiling.

At once, they dashed out of the cell into the corridor outside, bumping into the wall opposite them. The next moment, the laser barrier sprung back into its original state. Kart stared at the latter while catching his breath. "That was dangerous."

"You did well." Zeratul wrapped an arm around Kart's shoulders. Indeed, the young Jedi's mastery of the Void was astounding. True, Kart was not yet a full fledged dark templar, but thanks to his curiosity and creativity, he was progressing far more rapidly than Zeratul himself did in his own youth.

Still, he could have gotten Kart killed. The boy had not yet learned how to create a plasma shield around himself. Zeratul wondered if that were even possible for someone of a species other than a Protoss. Well, Kart did achieve a notable level of psionic resonance with that psi-blade. Now they just had to go take it back from their captors.

A few sparkles and a crackling sound to his right caught his attention. They had been spotted.

"Kart. Cloak. Now !"

-

Darth Maul and Gaya sauntered past the line of droids guarding the corridor. One could hardly find any windows here, since this entire complex was underground, or rather, set deep into the surrounding architecture to hide it from the common people who inhabited the city.

"My Lord," Gaya began.

Darth Maul halted and turned around, "What is it ?"

"While I was struggling with that Jedi Master, back on TP6 …" Gaya felt herself shrink from the Sith Lord's gaze, and could only mutter. "Some of the droidekas fired at me."

"An accident." Darth Maul "I am sure they were targeting the Jedi only."

"Was it ?" Gaya blurted out, then lowered her gaze as the Sith Maul fixed his eyes sternly on her again.

"It was." Darth Maul said coldly. "Do not question me."

They came to a trapezoidal sliding door set in the wall of the corridor.

Beside the door, set into the wall a metre above the floor, were a series of black, barely visible buttons and labeled diodes.

Darth Maul held out a hand towards the key pad. Just as his fingers were a foot away from the nearest button, the door seemed to slide open by itself, and he froze, looking at it in surprise.

"Hahaha." The hoarse, familiar, and disturbingly high pitched voice of an old man came from within the room. "Relax. I could sense you approaching. Nothing escapes my notice."

"Of course, Master Sidious." Darth Maul bowed as he stepped into the room, followed by Gaya.

The Dark Lord's quarters was all black, and also quite spacious, unlike the rest of the complex. Metre long vertical elliptical sections at two metre intervals along the glassy smooth walls emitted a ghastly red glow, that was strong enough to reveal the general layout of the room, but too dim to show any details. This, along with the blackness and slight reflective quality of the walls, floors and ceiling, gave a visitor the dreadful impression that the room extended far beyond its real confines and into the unfathomable depths beyond, where unknown horrors lurked among the never ending forest of dreadful red eye-like glowing ellipses.

In the centre of the room were four black cushioned seats around what appeared to be a squat black unlit furnace with a flat base. Upon closer inspection, its top was covered in intricate circuitry.

Above it were a set of holographic projections, mostly bluish squares of various sizes.

And seated facing the entrance, his pale, hairless, wrinkled face partially lit up by the dim glow of the projected images, and mostly hidden in the shadow of his black hood, was an old man in a black cloak.

Darth Sidious spread his arms and grinned. His hands were pale and wrinkled as well. "Sit down."

Darth Maul and Gaya obliged, each taking a seat on either side of the Dark Lord.

"It went well, Master." Darth Maul reported. "One of the stronger Jedi is dead, and we have brought the one you wanted to see."

"I know you have." The greater Sith Lord nodded. "My plans never fail." He turned towards Gaya, "Though I did not expect to capture your brother as well. You are more cunning than I thought, little one."

"Neither did I, Master Sidious." Gaya felt Darth Maul's cold, stern eyes on her again. "It was Lord Maul's prowess in battle that ensured the mission's success."

"I see." The Dark Lord resumed his reading.

"The Jedi padawan seemed quite attached to the Strange One." Darth Maul explained. "The latter may have imparted some of his unwholesome skills to him. What do you intend to do with them, Master ?"

"Oh, we shall recapture them !" Darth Sidious chuckled.

Darth Maul sat staring at his Master in confusion, then his eyes went wide.

"I told you nothing escapes my notice." His Master laughed. "They have broken out of their prison."

"How… ?" Darth Maul muttered, then stood up. "Forgive us for our negligence, Master. I shall go deal with them this moment."

"Haha. No need. I have planned for this. It is all going exactly as I wish." Darth Sidious stood up as well. "Come, let us go to the assembly hall."

-

"Whoa, which one is it ?" Kart exclaimed softly as he stepped into the armoury.

"Let the Force guide you." Zeratul replied, following close behind. "Isn't that what your master would say ?"

"That's what everyone says. I'd like to see one person try." Kart scanned the seemingly endless rows of metal racks before him.

The walls in this room were a glassy black, and it had no source of illumination except for the white light coming from the corridor outside, giving the visitor a false impression of its true size.

They walked up to the nearest weapon rack and began searching through the row of blaster rifles, pistols, gauntlets, helmets, shield generators, what appeared to be broken light sabres, and plenty other dubious looking equipment. Zeratul was sure that their own weapons were being kept here. At least, the psionic emanations that he recognized as that of Kart's psi-blade light sabre hybrid felt the strongest here.

"Show yourself !"

The both of them spun round and froze as they saw a tall figure in black robes standing at the entrance. He was around the same age as Gaya, with similar claw like tattoos on his face, and on his bald head as well. There was something familiar about him, which Zeratul could not quite recall at the moment.

"I know you are in here. You cannot hide from the Sith." The Dark Jedi ignited his lightsabre.

"I'll reveal myself and distract him." Zeratul whispered to Kart. "Carry on searching."

Silently, Kart stepped further away from the entrance.

Zeratul faced the Dark Jedi and let the Void energies disperse from himself. "Hahaha, you have found me." He pretended he was the only person who had snuck into the armoury. "You are indeed strong in the Force. Tell me, what is your name ?"

"Rav." The Dark Jedi replied. "So you are the Renegade Sith the Master has talked about ?"

"Renegade Sith ?" Zeratul raised a brow ridge and held up a hand. "Tell me, what makes you think that your Master is Orthodox Sith ?"

"Your mind tricks do not work on me, Leatherhead." Rav growled.

"Of course not," Zeratul laughed. He had not even begun using mind tricks. "I am quite honest with younger warriors. I can't say the same for your so called Master. Doubtless he has promised you power and glory. Do you truly believe that he will give you those, and take nothing away ?"

"Shut up !" Rav yelled, raised his light sabre in both hands, and leapt at Zeratul.

Pivoting on his left foot, Zeratul swiftly spun clockwise to face his right, and struck Rav's right arm with his left palm as the Dark Jedi swung down on the empty space where Zeratul stood a moment ago.

This light but precise push caused Rav to stagger to his left. As he steadied himself and turned to face Zeratul again, the Grey Templar dropped to a combat ready stance, placing one foot far in front of the other and pointing his open palms forward.

It had been some time since he had the chance to use the Dark Templar's unique unarmed combat techniques. Most members of the Rogue Tribes were former warriors of the Sargas Tribe, who were feared for their lethal killing arts and ruthless assassins.

Forced to defend themselves against superior numbers and weaponry, the ancestors of the Dark Templar resorted to a style of fighting which emphasized concealing one's hostile intentions till the last moment and landing discreet yet efficient and vicious blows.

"Your Master has told you to embrace your passions, but passion is not all there is to achieving victory." Zeratul did believe in what he said, but he uttered it in a condescending tone which angered the Dark Jedi even more.

With another roar, Rav swung his light sabre around and charged at Zeratul, who stood still until he was within slashing distance from Rav.

The Dark Jedi took a broad horizontal swipe at Zeratul, who leapt up out of the light sabre's way and darted his right leg forward in midair. His clawed foot knocked into Rav's head almost as quickly as one of those projectiles used by the Terrans impacting its target.

This threw the Dark Jedi backwards by three metres. He steadied himself, clutched his head with one hand, and stared up with fiery yellow eyes at the Grey Templar. "I will kill you !"

Resilient, Zeratul thought as he landed nimbly into the same position he was before executing that kick. Normally, his opponent would suffer a severe concussion after such a blow.

"Do try." Zeratul taunted.

Keeping his murderous gaze on Zeratul, Rav pointed his light sabre behind him and dashed towards Zeratul. Again, the Grey Templar kept still, until Rav brought his weapon abruptly forward, swinging it from the right in a broad arc towards Zeratul's head.

Calmly, Zeratul dropped down, the red rod of light whizzing harmlessly past the top of his head. Reaching up with one hand like a serpent striking its prey, he grabbed and held on to Rav's weapon arm, while jabbing a clawed thumb into Rav's armpit. It hit something hard, and Zeratul's eyes widened in recognition. Bionic implants. Rav had had dislocated joints. Now he remembered seeing a Dark Jedi with broken limbs flee the cave of the Ancient One just before he had fainted there.

The Dark Jedi screamed and jerked his right shoulder backwards, wrenching his right arm free from Zeratul's grip and swinging it back violently with light sabre pointed down.

Zeratul leapt to his left to avoid the red blade, coincidentally out through the doorway into the corridor outside.

He turned just in time to see Rav standing right before him, grimacing savagely, a red rod of light fast approaching his face as Rav swung the light sabre down at him. Zeratul's hands shot forward and caught Rav's wrists just as the red rod of light was a mere two inches from the Grey Templar's face. They held that position for a while, Rav's bionic implants almost giving him an edge over the taller Protoss warrior in the contest of strength, gradually backing Zeratul against the wall of the corridor.

And then Zeratul kicked hard at the wall behind him slightly to his right and forcefully spun to his left, pulling Rav's hands to his left while at the same time digging his claws deep into the Dark Jedi's wrist, causing the latter to involuntarily let go of his light sabre.

Before Rav could react, Zeratul punched Rav hard in the chest, like a mantid shrimp ramming its prey. There was a satisfying 'creak', and all the air went out of the Dark Jedi's lungs. Rav fell back and landed flat on his back.

Placing a foot on Rav's chest, Zeratul demanded, "Where is your Master ? Where is the Sith Lord who lead the raid into the cave ?"

Rav coughed violently before muttering, "Like I'll tell …"

Zeratul bent down until his face, now wearing a grim expression, was a foot from Rav's own. "If you refuse to tell me, I still have other methods."

"Bluff …" Rav grinned, then gasped in shock as Zeratul's eyes turned from a fiery orange to a deep glaring red. "Wha …"

The Grey Templar wrapped the Dark Jedi's head in his largish hands. A deep red haze condensed around both of them. Sparks of miniature lightning crackled through this unnatural looking cloud, mostly around Rav's head.

"You have no will. You do what I tell you. Your knowledge is mine. Obey !" Zeratul's voice, now with the spine-chilling quality of someone speaking while drawing long deep breaths and metal being dragged across metal, echoed back and forth in Rav's head, hammering away his mental resistance layer by layer. The Dark Jedi shuddered. His eyes glazed over. Ripples appeared in the air around his head.

And then Zeratul let go of Rav, and leaned back against the wall, gasping for air. The red haze dispersed. The glow in his eyes returned to orange.

"What the hell did you do to him ?"

Zeratul looked up to see Kart standing at the entrance to the armoury and starring down at Rav's unconscious body. There was a wierdly blank expression on the Dark Jedi's face.

"Mind control." Zeratul replied under his breath. His voice had returned to normal as well. "A forbidden ability that can be gained through a deep connection with the Void. I couldn't make it permanent, but it was long enough."

"I got our weapons." Kart held up his light sabre hilt as well as Zeratul's gauntlet mounted warp blades, which he handed to the Grey Templar. "What now ?"

"The assembly hall." Zeratul stood up and put on his gauntlets.


	10. What the Sith would Say

**What**** the ****Sith**** Would Say**

The Assembly hall resembled a large hollow egg with a flat base, sixteen metres long and ten metres wide. Again, Its walls and floor were made of a glassy black material, obscuring its true shape and size from the visitor. At one tip of the egg was the semicircular entrance, which led out into a dark passage way. The other tip was truncated into a flat wall that leaned in slightly at the top. In the middle of this wall was red glowing symbol that comprised of a two metre wide disc flanked by three spikes on each side connected at their bases, which conformed to the curvature of the disc.

A similar red glow was emitted by another red disc in the middle of the floor with a the words "Peace is a lie, there is only passion !" inscribed in black near in a circle within its edge. From this disc, three bands of glowing red, a wavy one representing cunning, a straight one made up of parallel stripes representing discipline, and one made up of arches stacked with curves facing forward representing loyalty, stretched towards the sides and entrance of the hall, up the walls, and converged into a third red disc in the ceiling, with the phrase, "The Force shall set us free !" inscribed in black within it.

A forth straight featureless band stretched towards the bottom of the flat wall opposite the entrance, and ended beneath a semicircular platform set into the wall below the Sith symbol, with its curved edge facing out and terraced into four steps. The latter's vertical faces glowed red and were inscribed with the words "strength", "power", "victory" and "deliverance" one above the last in the middle.

And on top of this platform was the Dark Lord himself, sitting comfortably in one of three black cushioned seats. Below the platform, at either side, stood Darth Maul and Gaya. All three silently faced the entrance of the hall.

Small by common standards, the hall was normally used to hold a congregation of the secret army of the Sith, but at the moment there was no one else in the hall. Not even a droid.

Darth Maul had little idea what his master was planning. However, he would serve and obey the greater Sith Lord, though not entirely out of love or respect. The Dark Lord's power bordered on omniscience, and he wanted that power for himself. To that end he must stay in his Master's favour, and learn all he could, until he could safely challenge Darth Sidious, do away with the old man, and take over as Dark Lord of the Sith.

Yet now all that seemed far away. Aside from Darth Sidious's penchant for secrecy and knowing everything, there was now the issue of the Master's new favourite Dark Jedi.

Darth Maul glanced over at Gaya, then glared at her fiercely as he caught her staring at him for a second as well. The latter shifted her gaze nervously. Was she plotting the same things ? Why, she was not even a true Sith ! And now she presumed to compete with him ? She had to be removed, he told himself, one way or another.

"Here they are !" Darth Sidious announced heartily as if a guest had just arrived. "There is no need to hide from us, my friends. We are all alike."

"I beg to differ." A low resounding voice.

The air in the middle of the entrance shimmered, then seemingly out of nowhere, two figures faded into view. One a Jedi Padawan in brown robes. The other, a tall lean humanoid warrior with digitigrade feet, wrapped in black and red cloth.

"Sith Lord !" Kart activated his blade and pointed it forward at Darth Sidious. "You will all pay for your crimes."

At this, the Dark Lord sat back and laughed. The sinister quality of his voice, as well as his piercing yellow glare, sent chills down everyone else's spine.

Zeratul stepped forward and pointed his own weapon at the figure in the black cloak. "Where is the Artifact ?"

Now Darth Sidious stopped laughing. He tilted his head, faced his palm forward, and replied sarcastically, "I do not remember having anything called 'the Artifact' in my possession."

"We have no time for your jokes." Zeratul knew, Sidious was totally aware of everything that was going on.

The Artifact was here somewhere, he was sure. Even if the Sith Lord refused to hand it over, he could still find it himself. The problem, was that he probably had to fight the Dark Lord to get to it, and he had little idea how powerful the head of the Sith Order really was. True, Farid did manage to stand up to Sidious back in the cave, but then he could tell, the Sith Lord had not really gone all out. The latter kept Farid occupied, and stole the Artifact, without even stepping away from the doorway. Had Sidious unleashed his true powers …

Zeratul hoped it would never come to that. Yet if it did, he was prepared.

Fortunately, Sidious did not appear eager to display his prowess at all. He relaxed in his simple throne, and stared down amusedly at Zeratul and Kart.

"Hahaha. Of course, of course." Darth Sidious leaned forward. His yellow eyes appeared to glow in the shadow of his hood as they widened. "I believe, I do have what you want … but I must tell you, it is no longer worth your while. It will no longer achieve what you expected it to achieve. "

"You speak as if you know what it is." Zeratul raised a brow ridge. "I do seriously doubt that. Whatever you say. I will retrieve it, one way or the other."

"Indeed you will," Darth Sidious eyes seemed to glow even more strongly. "For you see, our purposes are not that different. The fact that we were both after this … Artifact, proves that ! Join me ! Let us work together to fulfill our goals !"

"And what would those goals be ?" Zeratul raised a hand, facing its palm upwards. "To wipe out all life from entire planets ? To achieve domination over the galaxy ?"

"We serve a higher purpose than that." Darth Sidious spread his arms.

"Don't bother arguing with him, Zeratul." Kart stepped forward. "We'll do everyone a favour by cutting off his head. And then we will talk about higher purpose."

Gaya turned to face Sidious. "Allow me, Master."

Her Master nodded. "Show me your devotion to the Dark Side, little one."

"Yes, Master." Gaya walked towards Kart, as the latter approached her as well, Zeratul following behind. They stopped three metres from each other, in the middle of the hall.

"Don't interfere." Kart spoke. "I'm not fighting you."

"I killed your Master's friend." Gaya lowered her head slightly and stared forward. "Aren't you going to do something about that ? Or are the Jedi so detached that they don't really care about each other's lives ?"

"The Jedi do not take lives unless they have to." Kart replied calmly. "Step aside, sister. I will not fight you."

"Oh, that's cold." Gaya smirked. "I was hoping we could do something exciting together."

"Coldness is my weapon." Kart darted forward, and reached towards Gaya's forehead with his non weapon hand.

"Barehanded huh ?" Gaya shot one hand up and caught Kart's outstretched arm, forcefully twisting outwards.

Kart yelped and leaned over to his left.

"Oh, does it hurt, little brother ?" Gaya brought her face close to Kart's. "Aren't you going to beg ? Whenever I caught you doing something wrong, you'd beg me to let you go, but you never changed."

"I obviously look different now." Kart replied sarcastically. "And about my wrist, no, it doesn't hurt actually."

Gaya felt the wrist that she was gripping in her hand go cold like a stone. Cold as ice. Cold as …

Stunned, Gaya relaxed her grip. She felt a bone cracking chill shoot up her arm all the way past her elbow. And then it went numb. She frantically checked her hand for signs of frostbite, and saw to her relief that there was none.

Kart staggered back and chuckled. "I told you, the cold is my weapon." The air around his hand was shimmering and rippling, and a faint orange red glow flickered among his fingers , palm and wrist. He had hoped to completely paralyze Gaya by channeling the energies of the Void into her head. Now that he had missed, he had shown his sister what he was capable of. She would not fall for that again.

And indeed she would not, for she switched on her light sabre, holding it in her normal hand, and leapt towards him. "Come, show me what else you can do !"

Kart hurriedly brought his blade up to block Gaya's downward swipe. To his surprise, the latter dropped down and then dashed forward, pulling her light sabre forward from under Kart's blade and making a superficial, but painful slash along the side of Kart's chest.

Kart covered his wound with his non-weapon hand and bent over in pain.

"Come on, you can do better than that !" Gaya taunted from behind him.

"Kart !" Zeratul shouted and prepared to rush to his aid.

"I can handle this, Zeratul. Go kick some Sith Lord ass." Kart forced a smile at the Protoss warrior.

Ignoring Kart's words, Zeratul pointed a warp blade at Gaya's throat. "Throw your weapon away, or lose your head. I am not Jedi. I have no qualms about killing."

"As you say, Scaly." Gaya threw her light sabre, still active, towards the walls.

Then, to Zeratul's surprise, the weapon circled towards the entrance, and stabbed towards him from behind.

Zeratul leapt to one side to avoid the flying light sabre.

Gaya backed away and caught the hilt of her weapon, and then while Zeratul was still steadying himself, dashed at the Grey templar, swinging her weapon around in broad lethal arcs.

Zeratul's plasma shield hissed and sparked in protest.

…

Kart cursed, then looked up at Darth Sidious. "Alright, now you are mine."

Sidious laughed. "Come and get me then, little one."

Darth Maul stepped forward and turned on his light sabre. "You will speak to the Master with proper respect."

"Go away, Spiky." Kart yelled, then coughed. As he did so, fresh jolts of pain tore through his chest. He felt something warm flow over the fingers that were covering his wound. Focus, Kart, focus.

The air around him shimmered, and rippled, breaking up his appearance.

"Hmph." Darth Maul closed his eyes and reached out through the Force. Feeling the presence of another being was child's play for a Sith Lord, especially when it was in the same room as he was.

At the far end of the hall, there was a tall humanoid figure defending against savage blows from a smaller female figure. And in front of him, blurred yet easily discernible, was the figure of an injured young man slowly standing up while clutching his wounds.

And now this figure was running silently towards him.

"I see you !" Darth Maul held up his light sabre and grinned as he felt something pushing it forcefully against him. The air in front of him shimmered.

"Your powers are useless against me."

"Oh really ?" Kart said as he faded back into view. His psi blade extended by a metre and wrapped itself in blue flames.

Instinctively, Darth Maul leapt back.

Kart charged forward without hesitation.

Darth Sidious watched in interest. He knew that Darth Maul was more skilled in lightsabre combat, but the young Jedi was not using a common lightsabre. Rather than block it, Darth Maul avoided it altogether. Knowing that he had the superior weapon, the young Jedi pressed his attack, driving the lesser Sith Lord towards the side of the hall, until the latter had his back up against the wall.

"Impressive, little one !" Darth Sidious clapped as Kart pointed his psi-blade at Darth Maul's chest, taking advantage of its longer reach to pin the lesser Sith Lord down.

Darth Maul raised an eyebrow. "What are you waiting for ? Finish it !"

"This is your end !" Kart roared, stepped in, then stopped himself. He closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration. "No, this is not right."

"No, of course not !" Darth Maul Laughed.

Kart gasped as he saw bright blue bolts of lightning shoot forth from Darth Maul's hands and strike him all over his body.

The sheer power of the Sith Lord's Force lightning sent the young Jedi back several metres, writhing and screaming in agony. A faint red mist poured out from his wound together with a wisp of smoke.

Darth Maul approached Kart and raised his lightsabre above him.

Darth Sidious shook his head, and look down Kart disappointedly. "And here I thought you were something. You do not have the resolve to delve into the Dark Side."

At this, Darth Maul swung his weapon down onto his hapless victim.

As the rod of red light was a mere one foot above Dart's neck, another rod of red light shot out from the side and blocked its descent.

Darth Maul frowned and looked towards the source of this obstacle, and saw Gaya half kneeling next to her brother, with a determined expression on her face, her light sabre locked with Darth Maul's own weapon.

"Traitor !" Darth Maul scowled. He pointed a hand towards Gaya and blasted her with Force lightning.

Taking this attack at almost point blank range threw Gaya all the way across the hall till she bumped against the far wall and collapsed onto the floor. She felt as if her insides were being boiled away. Her skin felt like it was being stung all over by venomous insects. The pain overwhelmed her, causing her to gasp. Her face, the parts not tattooed, was sheet white, her mouth agape, her eyes wide as if staring at death itself. She tensed her whole body, and then slipped out of consciousness.

"Gaya !" Kart screamed in horror.

"Scream for yourself !" Darth Maul prepared to decapitate the young Jedi again. The latter struggled to roll himself away.

"Indeed !" Came the low, resounding reply from behind him.

Darth Maul froze. Orange sparks jumped around him like fish leaping in and out of water. His eyes stared down blankly.

A largish, scaly hand with four clawed digits reached down and confiscated his lightsabre.

Zeratul switched off the lightsabre and removed his other hand from the lesser Sith Lord's back. "He will not be moving for a very long time. Go look at your sister, Kart."

Kart stood and staggered over to where Gaya lay. "Hey…"Kart called gently, "are you alright ?"

Gaya opened her eyes slightly. "I'm sorry, brother."

"You can talk." Kart assured her. "You'll be fine."

"I'm sorry, "Gaya whispered. "for the things I have done."

"You did what you believed was right." Kart placed a hand lightly on his sister's forehead. "Rest."

"Hmm…" Gaya closed her eyes again.

…

"Seems I underestimated the strength of their bond with each other." Darth Sidious folded his arms. "Interesting."

"Do you feel no remorse for all the lives that you have taken ?" Zeratul stared angrily at the Dark Lord.

"Remorse is only a hindrance, as is kinship." Darth Sidious replied. "That is what a Sith would say."

"Where is the artifact ?" Zeratul pointed a warp blade at the greater Sith Lord.

"You still need it ?" Sidious laughed. "Here !" He reached behind his seat and grabbed a black stone object which he threw at Zeratul.

Zeratul grabbed the object and inspected it. Indeed, it was the Artifact he was looking for. The carapace of the trilobite statue. The segmented body. The articulated claw like limbs. The oval blue crystal held between them.

The crystal.

Zeratul glared at the crystal. There was something wrong with it, he was sure. Something had changed since the last time he saw it.

"Something missing ?" Darth Sidious tilted his hooded head.

"The last time I saw it, the crystal was glowing brightly. I felt something drawing me towards it." Zeratul threw the Artifact onto the platform. "Now, this is nothing but an ordinary stone sculpture with a large gem in it."

"Indeed." Darth Sidious stood up. His voice changed from that of a laughing old man to a deep, unnerving bellow that reverberated throughout the hall, and even in Zeratul's head. "For what you were looking for was not the physical object itself, but the essence transmitted in the object … an essence that now resides in this frail form before you." He spread his arms and grinned. "You have fought well, First Born, but your journey ends here."

"You !" Zeratul exclaimed, eyes wide. "You are no Sith Lord. You are the Ancient One !"

-

( OMG, Is Darth Sidious really a XN ?

Tune in this coming Friday/Saturday for the final chapter of the Grey Templar 2.

Thanks, GreyPezzola, for your continued support :)

and also to others who have reviewed or read the story.

- Star )


	11. Khala's End

**Khala's**** End**

Zeratul trembled as his mind processed the implications of his revelation. Several things that occurred in the past few days began to make sense.

"So you realize," Darth Sidious, or in fact the Ancient One, stepped down the platform towards the Grey Templar, who stood rooted to his spot, transfixed by the terrific aura now exuded by this being approaching him. "though you are not entirely correct. I have not just impersonated Darth Sidious, I have borrowed his physical form. Possession, as the mortals would call it. It was a simple matter of calling the host to the vessel, and getting him or her to touch it. Through that, entities such as I would be able to take the forms of lesser beings, and finish that which has been left undone."

"All this," Zeratul stuttered. His thoughts returned to the Terran, Samir Duran. He shuddered at the thought that it might have been he, not Darth Sidious, whom the Ancient One possessed. "All this … had been engineered by you … to what end ?"

"Ah, you are one of the First Born, and you know what I am. Then you must know that I once had a corporeal body." The Ancient One began. "In fact, we believed we had achieved the ultimate phase in evolution."

"The creation and tending of other sentient species." Zeratul muttered. "Thus came the Protoss and the Zerg."

"Failed experiments." The Ancient One spat. "Flawed products. Disasters. Because of them, we now exist as nothing more than psionic entities. They must be reformed. Perfected."

"You do not mean …" Zeratul began.

"Yes, the Protoss are pure in form, yet in essence they are fickle and volatile. The Zerg are pure in essence, yet their form is dangerously unpredictable. The solution is, therefore, quite obvious. However, that part you already know. You had seen what no other First Born had seen."The Ancient one leaned in towards Zeratul and stared into his eyes, as if peering into his thoughts. "You have communicated with the Overmind."

"Yes."Zeratul nodded, reliving that event over in his mind. "I killed a Cerebrate, as a result, my mind touched with that of the Overmind. Through me it learned the secret location of Aiur, and almost succeeded in conquering our homeworld. Was this all part of the Xel'Nagas' great plan to merge our two species ?"

The Ancient One laughed. "You defeated it in the end, did you not ? I can tell. We do have a great plan, but it is beyond the control of either the Zerg or the Protoss. It will change the universe in ways that you cannot yet imagine."

"The Hybrids." Zeratul ventured.

"You surprise me, First Born." The look of amusement faded from the Ancient One's borrowed face. "You have witnessed certain things that are beyond mortal comprehension, and here you stand, calmly conversing with me about them."

"It is something that I cannot ignore, yet as you said, I cannot effectively explain it to my brethren. What will happen to the rest of us when you have achieved the perfection you desire ?"Zeratul asked. " What will happen to the Protoss, the Humans, the Zerg ?"

"We are divided on that one." The Ancient One replied. "Some believe that they should be left alone. Some believe that by the time the experiments are complete, all life would be changed."

Zeratul took some time to convince himself that he was indeed talking to whom he thought he was talking to. "What do you believe ?"

"I believe," The Ancient One narrowed the yellow eyes of his host. "that flawed products, should be removed."

Zeratul jerked back in surprise, then summoned enough courage to raise a warp blade just slightly. "I will not allow you to harm my people."

The Ancient One laughed and pointed an open palm at Zeratul, who gasped as he was thrown back several metres, limbs flailing in shock, by an invisible force, and pressed against the far wall. It held his arms and legs close to the wall, like magnets adhering to a steel surface. The Grey Templar struggled to free himself, but to no avail.

"This is beyond your control now, First Born." The Ancient One announced as he walked towards Zeratul.

"You will not reach my homeworld." Zeratul threatened. "The Jedi will destroy you !"

"The Jedi will defeat the Sith. That is for sure, but I have accomplished what I can accomplish as the Dark Lord of the Sith. All the connections made, the obstacles removed. It now remains only to leave this shell for another. " Now standing right in front of Zeratul, the Ancient One placed a hand on the Grey Templar's chest, and closed his eyes.

Zeratul's eyes widened as he realized what the Ancient One was trying to do. "You will not take me ! I shall not sur …"

And he lost his connection to reality.

-

Zeratul screamed as loudly as his book lungs would allow. In his arms lay the Matriarch, lifeless, a wide gash across her chest, from within which a pale blue mist poured out. As the seconds went by, more and more of her body evaporated into blue flames.

Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but black rock and lava. The latter churned and boiled, material projections of the tumult and anguish raging in him.

"I can hardly believe this! You've killed your own Matriarch!" The human-Zerg hybrid standing next to them teased.

"Better that I killed her, than let her live as your slave, Kerrigan." Zeratul stared intently at the Matriarch's face and clung on to her, as if doing so would slow down her passing.

"Well, I have misjudged you, warrior. You are worthy, indeed. You are free to go."

"What?" Zeratul started. What was the Queen of Blades up to ?

"I said, you are free to go. I've already taken your honor. I'll let you live, because I know that from now on, your every waking moment will be torture. You'll never be able to forgive yourself for what I've forced you to do. And that, Zeratul, is a better revenge than I could have ever dreamed of." The Queen of Blades grinned with grim satisfaction. No, she was not being kind. She was after all, the most feared being in the Koprolu Sector. Successor of the Overmind. She was enjoying the power that she had, by tormenting her enemies' minds, not just simply defeating their armies, as would an upstart still fighting to consolidate his or her power. Kerrigan was no longer an upstart. She was Queen of the Zerg.

"You will regret this decision, Kerrigan. We shall meet again." Zeratul threatened, as bright blue ripples of light swirled around him.

Running away. Was this the right thing to do ? In all the centuries that he had lived he had not felt so wretched. His life had been plagued by tragedy. They had hardened him, made him a tougher warrior. Yet at this point he was filled with doubt. Tough warrior indeed. He fought with ruthless efficiency. He eliminated his targets without hesitation. He was unstoppable …

… But that did not save Tassadar, nor Aldaris, nor the Matriarch, nor Fenix …

Perhaps it was time he stopped being unstoppable, and involved himself in a different manner.

The wormhole completely swallowed him, and he lost all sense of space and time. Soon, he was not even aware of his own physical existence. He was there, and yet he was not there.

-

Kart heard Zeratul scream. It was a horrifying cry, like that of someone being plunged into water, and then lifted up, and then submerged again, and then lifted, again and again, until it was obvious that he or she had been drowned.

He saw the figure of Darth Sidious collapse onto the floor before Zeratul, and the latter stagger away from the wall.

"Zeratul, are you alright ?"

The Grey Templar did not answer. He stared at his own hands. "So much power. And yet he did not know how to use it."

"Zeratul ?" Kart called out again.

Zeratul turned to look at the boy. The latter noticed something about the stare, but could not quite place it. Was it the expression ? Perhaps Zeratul was experiencing some emotion that he had never shown before. Was it the way the eyes glowed ? That glow did seem to change from time to time. Was it the posture ? He must be tired after all that he had gone through.

"Are you alright ?"

"I … am very fine." Zeratul smiled in a rather weird way. "Come, let us - "

His voice broke down into a series of gulps and gurgles, as if he were trying to talk while submerged in water. Zeratul fell to his knees, and he shook and flailed his arms about as if he were drowning

And then it became clear again, but this time it was very different, not an individual speaking, but a chorus of voices. The very familiarity in their tones made Kart's blood freeze.

"Enri !"

"Oh ho ho ! I am back !"

"You are dead ! I made sure of that !"

"Oh about that ! I left my shell of my own will, but I let the girl cut me, so as to appear as if I had been killed. Well I was, but …"

"The First Born is mine ! Leave !"

"I don't think so, T'nghal."

"And what can you achieve here ? You have failed to prevent my release. You have failed."

"No, T'nghal, it is here that I shall finally accomplish what I set out to do !"

Zeratul gasped deeply, and his eyes widened. "Kart !" he choked.

"What … what happened ?" Kart stuttered, still a bit unnerved by Zeratul's disturbing 'soliloquy'.

"There … is no … time to explain …" Zeratul forced the words out, as if speaking coherently was taken him a whole lot of effort. "Kill …"

"Don't tell me that !" Kart shouted. "There is always time ! Please … Zeratul. Not you too !" He shook his head.

"Kill … Kill me." Zeratul managed to blurt out. "Stop … T'nghal !"

"No !" Kart shouted. "There must be another way !"

"Listen !" Zeratul twisted his back and neck and swung his arms around, struggling against whatever that was holding him down and straining to retain control of his own movements. "That crystal in … your weapon was created … by the Ancient Ones themselves. It responds … to your thoughts ! If you truly wish to … save … stab …"

Now Zeratul's back straightened and his arms slowly sank back to his sides. His face calmed and he slowly stood up. "The fool. Did he believe that a mortal boy can stop me ?"

"Zeratul ?" Kart called out, then he frowned and ignited his psi blade, pointing it towards the Protoss warrior. "No, you are not him. What have you done with Zeratul ?"

"You do not need to know." Zeratul, or rather, T'nghal, sneered.

Without warning, the possessed Grey Templar ignited his warp blades and darted towards the young Jedi.

Kart leapt high into the air just as T'nghal crossed his warp blades and cut at the middle of where Kart stood. The latter would have been scissored in half had he been a quarter of a second slower.

Somersaulting forward in midair, Kart called upon the energies of the Void to bend light around himself and landed behind T'nghal fully cloaked.

To Kart's surprise, T'nghal spun around and swung a warp blade towards the young Jedi's head, which the latter quickly blocked by bringing up his own weapon, just as the warp blade was a finger's width from his forehead. Kart gasped and his face would have paled had they been visible.

"I see you !" T'nghal laughed. "The First Born is much more powerful than you will ever be ! Obey me ! Or die !"

"No !" Kart growled through clenched teeth. His grip on the hilt of his weapon tightened. "You will let Zeratul go, or .. or else …"

"Or else what, Jedi ?" T'nghal raised a browridge.

"I …" Kart stuttered. Could he do it ? If he did it, would all his troubles finally be over ?

Curse everything. Why must it come to this ? Why ? Didn't he become Jedi so that he could make sure tragedies never occur again ? What use was power if all it caused was misery ? What could he do to end all this ? To set things right ?

The crystal in Kart's psi blade hilt glowed, and he felt his hands go warm. A sudden torrent of energy flowed up his arms. It filled him up like water flooding into impoldered land, knocking down every dam of doubt and hesitation inside of him. It eroded all the mud of illusion away, so that he now saw clearly what had to be done.

With renewed strength, Kart pressed his weapon forward, forcing T'nghal to back away.

"I am not Jedi ! I am Templar !" Kart roared. His psi blade lengthened by half a metre, and its thin white core glowed intensely, like midday light being let into a dark room through a slightly open door. The pale blue haze around it turned purple, and tapered at the weapon's tip, so that the whole thing looked like a two metre long, extraordinarily thin jet of flame.

"You will not use that !"T'nghal stared at the extended psi-blade, or more accurately, psi-lance, in shock. "You can't possibly resonate with the crystal !"

"There may be a lot of people who will disagree with you !" Kart replied. "Do not look down on those who are not your species !"

With that, Kart leapt forward and took a broad horizontal swipe at T'nghal's, or Zeratul's midsection. T'nghal blocked the attack with one warp blade, and shot the other blade forward at Kart's chest.

Kart leaned away from the weapon. The latter grazed the side of his arm.

This slight cut was nothing. The violence of his swing had disturbed the wound at the side of his chest, and the fresh jolts of pain caused him to tense up and lose his balance. He staggered and fell away from T'nghal's attacking warp blade.

He took the chance to roll forward and past T'nghal.

This time, before the latter could turn around and attack him again, he pointed his weapon backwards and stabbed it through the figure behind him.

For a moment there was silence.

Then there was a strong, continuous breeze behind him, and the cackling sound of something burning up.

"Thank you, Kart." A friendly tone, tinged with sadness and a strange excitement.

"Zeratul ?" Kart drew his weapon forward, stood up, and turned around.

Zeratul stood facing him as well. There was a short but deep gash in the middle of his chest, through which leaked a pale blue mist. Something that Kart was now familiar with.

"Zeratul –" Kart gaped in horror. " What have I done ?" Judging from the mist drifting down from behind Zeratul, Kart could tell that he had stabbed right through the Grey Templar from front to back.

"What must be done." Zeratul replied calmly, but weakly. "This is a threshold that I must cross."

"What are you talking about ?" Kart's eyes widened and he panicked as he saw the blue flames belching out from Zeratul's wound. "No ! Please don't go !"

"Grieve not." Zeratul coughed. "I ... have reached the Khala's End. This ... is a ... glorious death."

Kart shook his head in disbelief as the blue fire and mist continued to pour out of the dying Protoss warrior's chest.

_HUHEHA ... YOU BELIEVE THIS IS THE END ? DELUDED MORTALS ..._

Both Zeratul and Kart froze in shock.

Then Zeratul felt an overwhelming internal heat and nervous sensation rising up from the base of his spine towards his head, and he clasped his chest in panic. "No, he isn't going to ..."

"What is it ?" Kart stood and stared at this sudden change in Zeratul's demeanor, not sure what to make of it. "We killed the thing that possessed you, right ? We have won, right ?"

"No, we have not ... yet ..." Zeratul gasped in reply, straining to suppress the potent energies now threatening to rip through his physical shell and burst out. "Quickly ! behead me !"

"What ?" Kart shouted. He was afraid to be sure, but he found the present situation slightly ridiculous. So stabbing the vessel through the chest wasn't enough ? What was this ... Ancient One ? He gripped the hilt of his weapon tightly, but was too confused to make any move.

"Quickl ... " Zeratul roared and arched his back, arms involuntary jerked apart. His eyes glowed a blinding purple. Despite his best efforst to hold it in, a purple flame erupted from the wound on his chest and spread out, engulfing his whole body, eventually molding itself into a gigantic sphere 4 metres in diametre made of layer upon layer of purple and white churning flames.

Mesmerised, Kart was yet unable to find the resolve to make a move.

In a moment the churning flames subsided into a transparent cloud of sapphire blue fire, within which stood a tall imposing figure.

"Zeratul, is that you ?" Kart took a step forward get a clearer view of this apparition.

Its outline was similar to Zeratul, but its flesh was transparent, almost invisible, replaced by streams of energy that rose up the legs, the trunk, along each arm and coalesced into the white glowing form of a largish, clawed protoss hand.

It wore a stylised set of armour with purple metallic lustre and glowing blue stripes.

A large mantle covered its chest and shoulder. A foot long oval blue gem was set upright in the middle of the chest. From both sides, on each shoulder, a half metre long pale purple horn grew out, bent up and in, then curved outwards at the tip.

From its back a series of arches rose over its head and the nerve cords that trailed out from behind it. They ended in a sharp tip at the top.

Its face was covered by a mask, made of the same pale purple metal, molded to a likeness of Zeratul's own face. A four inch long purple, oval gem was set vertically into its tall forehead. Its eyes glowed sky blue.

Its nerve cords were long, reaching down to its ankles, transparent, smooth and gently waving about like the tentacles of a blue sea anemone. Each ended in what appeared to be a leaf-shaped spear point.

Its gauntlets where of the same design as Zeratul had worn, but now they appeared heavier, more stylised, and possessed the same purple metallic sheen and glowing blue stripes as the rest of the armour. Also, the fact that the exposed parts of this being's arm was almost perfectly transparent made it hard to gauge its power, and thus appeared all the more dreadful.

The mantle seemed to hover steadily a metre above a stylised hip guard with an oval blue gem set into its groin, similar to the gem at the middle of the chest. Purple leaf like strips trailed down from its edges.

It wore greaves of a similar style to the gauntlets, but constructed to fit its digitigrade, now almost non-existent shins and feet.

The being raised its left hand at stared into its palm, then looked down at Kart, raised both arms, and spoke in a reverberating, stony voice,

"Behold mortal, the pinnacle of a Protoss templar's power ...

The Twilight Archon !"

-

( OK, not really the last chapter XD

Did you expect a XN to get defeated so easily ?

Hmm... now what would happen to Zeratul, Enri and Kart ?

read on ! )


	12. Twilight and Dawn

**Twilight and Dawn**

Now Kart finally realised, to his horror, that T'nghal, though the body of his host had been damaged, was still very much alive, and had now taken on an even more powerful form.

It appeared that the Ancient One's vast knowledge had allowed him to unlock a dreadful power that even Zeratul himself was only dimly aware of.

And now as Kart stared up at the blue burning effigy hovering, in all its apocalyptic glory, before him, he realised that he himself knew pitiably little about the powers wielded by the possessed Protoss warrior, much less how to defeat this being.

Yet he had to do something. No matter how terrible the odds were against him, it was important that he destroy the Twilight Archon, else Zeratul would not have pleaded with him to end the Grey Templar's life, as the latter was about to transform.

He held his psi-sabre close to his waist with both hands and pointed it forward at his opponent, focusing what psionic energies he could call upon into its tip. Leaning forward, he high-kneeled, then in a burst of energy, he leapt at the Twilight Archon, as a wolf pounces at a bull, thrusting his weapon forward as the distance between them closed in the blink of an eye.

As the tip of the psi-sabre was a foot from the Archon's chest, there was a blinding flash of light, like that of metal being welded onto metal, and Kart felt himself suddenly knocking into an invisible wall which scalded him and jarred his head.

His impetus lost, Kart collapsed at the Archon's feet, shaking from the shock of the impact.

"That weapon of yours would have penetrated a normal plasma shield, but the psionic prowess of an archon is several times that of a living protoss. I see Zeratul has not told you that." T'nghal said coldly.

Not relenting, Kart flung his psi-sabre up in an attempt to slash at the Archon's waist, only to be stopped by the force of a boulder bearing down on his weapon arm as T'nghal caught the naked burning blade of the psi-sabre in his bare right claw.

The Archon wrenched the weapon effortlessly from the young Jedi's hands, and threw it away while swinging its left claw down at an astonished Kart, who withdrew his legs and rolled back several metres.

Then he stood and stared back, panting, and his body aching all over, at T'nghal. Long thin electrical sparks now danced randomly within the latter's blue fire cloud.

Instinctively, Kart reached out to his psi-sabre through the force, and telekinetically pulled it back into his hands, just as the Archon pointed a clawed finger at him, and a bolt of lightning burst forth from the claw tip to strike at Kart, who attempted to block it with his psi-sabre as he had seen his Master block Sith Lightning with the latter's own light sabre.

Yet this was unlike force lightning, nor laser blasts. It did not merely prick him with sensations of pain, or jolt him backwards. It felt like unseen hands were striking him profusely and savagely with sledgehammers, and he was holding the blows off with nothing but a metal rod. The strain and intense ringing wore him down quickly and he struggled to maintain his footing and keep his mind intact.

Concentrating on the tip of his blade, Kart drew in the Archon's lightning, then spun swiftly to the left, deflecting T'nghal's attack to the ground.

Where the psionic shockwave struck, the floor exploded like the surface of a dark pond through which a large rock had fallen, sending a hail of broken black marble, red glass, and sparks in all directions. The force threw Kart back until he landed near to his unconscious sister, amidst a shower of stone and glass.

Kart picked himself up and stepped in front of Gaya, pointing his psi-blade forward in a battle ready posture. In actual fact he was quite spent. Another blast from the psionic shockwave, and that would be the end of him.

The Archon, unimpressed by Kart's ability to resist a terrible assault that, to it, was nothing more than a flick of a finger, pointed his whole palm forward, and the latter began to glow more intensely.

Barely noticeable to T'nghal or Kart, the debris around the latter shifted, as if blown by a silent breeze, and were lifted into the air, hovering around the young Jedi, swirling, jumping, clumping.

Accompanied by a deafening clap of thunder, a thick bolt of lightning shot forth from T'nghal's open palm towards the hapless Jedi.

Immediately, and seemingly out of nowhere, black stones fell in before Kart and melted themselves together, coalescing into a two metre high ramp, two metre thick at the base, which sloped up in Kart's direction, and down towards the sides.

The monstrous bolt of lightning struck the compressed barrier right in the middle, blowing a metre wide hole on top of it, and creating an even more violent hail of black rock.

Without hesitation, Kart bent down over the limp form of his sister both to protect her and himself. He felt bone breaking, skin tearing pain as the broken, smouldering rocks fell upon and scalded his back.

And then there was silence, and he realised that he was still alive. He looked up at the hole in the barrier, through it at the figure of the Twilight Archon beyond, who was now slowly walking towards them, and then back down at Gaya's expressionless face, and he whispered, "thank you..."

With renewed energy, Kart leapt onto the ramp, standing in the hole and confronted the Twilight Archon, who now stood a metre from the base of the ramp.

Then without warning, Kart charged down to his left and swung his psi-sabre out to his right.

T'nghal turned and laughed as his plasma shield blocked the young Jedi's vigorous but futile blows.

-

As T'nghal's control over Zeratul's body grew more complete, the Grey Templar found himself shut out from his own physical senses, and was surrounded by darkness, silence and numbness. He sank in despair.

_Not over yet._

Zeratul recognised that voice. "Enri !" He cried out mentally

_Why do you __despair ?_

"T'nghal has taken over my body !" Zeratul exclaimed. "Now Kart is fighting desperately to bring down an enemy many times more powerful than he is."

_So why don't you help __him ?_

"I am no longer in control of my own arms and legs. I am helpless. I know you are an Ancient One too. Please stop T'nghal !"

_You ... will stop him._

"I ... don't understand."

_You are more than your physical form, __Zeratul__. The real you __is__ more than that._

This rang a bell in Zeratul's mind, but for the moment he could not recall why.

_As far as an ordinary __Protoss__ is concerned, you have died..._

Silence as Zeratul processed the implications of that.

_But here you are aware of yourself and my presence. __Do not limit yourself with such terms as 'body', 'arms' and 'legs'. __T'nghal__ has possessed your body, but he has not possessed your mind. With your mind, you will save Kart and his sister._

"How ?"

_Focus your attention on him, and you will reach __him ..._

-

Kart leapt aside to dodge another psionic shockwave that struck the floor where he stood a second ago, and raised his weapon arm to protect himself from the inevitable shower of broken rocks.

Exhausted, he forced himself to stand, and walk away. He had to keep moving. A counterattack against the mighty Twilight Archon was not an option.

"You are surprisingly strong for one of your age, Jedi, but here it ends !"

Kart spun and brought his psi-sabre up just in time to block the downward swipe of a large white four clawed hand.

It was not much of a block. Kart dropped to high kneel, then was forced to sit as the weight of a hill was brought down upon him and threatened to crush him to the ground. He stared up in terror at the cold blue glow of the Twilight Archon's eyes. The latter met his gaze, and time seemed to stand still.

_Fear not.__ The Twilight Archon will be destroyed._

"Zeratul ?" Kart gasped. Of course it was Zeratul. The Protoss warrior had tried to communicate telepathically with him before. It was a feeling familiar to him.

_For all its might, the Archons are __psionic__ entities. Their will is their power. Defeat their __will !_

"But how ? I am but a Jedi and Dark Templar novice !" Kart pointed out.

_You are who you make yourself to be.__Noone__, not __Farid__, nor I, will define what you are. So do not falter. Make the enemy falter__ instead__, and it will be __destroyed !_

"But that shield is invincible !" Kart exclaimed.

_Not all is what it __seems ..._

At once, Kart's mind was flooded with various images and sounds. A sudden, rapidly changing vision, and then just as it came, it was gone, and his mind was left clearer than ever. There was no thought other than the thought of finishing what he had to do.

With all his might, he parried the Archon's claw aside and jumped away as it clamped down into empty space. It made deep cuts along Kart's weapon arm, but he ignored the pain and stood up to face his enemy again.

"I shall obliterate you !" T'nghal bellowed. He pointed a hand in Kart's direction and blasted the latter with a bolt of intense psionic lightning, putting a significant portion of his psionic energy behind the attack.

For a second, the entire hall was illumined by a flash of white light and rocked by ear-splitting thunder. Where the lightning struck, a cloud of black and red dust spread out and mushroomed up to the ceiling.

When the dust cloud thinned and settled, it revealed a three metre wide, one metre deep crater. This section of the floor had not just been blown to pieces. It had been vapourised.

T'nghal trodded through the cloud of falling dust and debris towards the crater, then froze as he caught sight of the silhouette of a young Jedi lying within it. The latter convulsed as if seen through the rippling surface of water, then broke up and vanished.

A hallucination.

Before he realised what was happening, the ground beneath him cracked and the area right below his feet sank down while jagged black rocks rose up around him like megalithic pillars and clamped themselves around him.

His plasma shield sparked and hissed as it held off the weight of the sharp boulders pressing down at him.

"Not all is what it seems." The voice of a boy.

T'nghal looked up just in time to see one three metre wide piece of rock with a smooth black base, evidently ripped from the ceiling right above him, smash into the top of his plasma shield.

A flash of white light, like ten steel beams being welded together, and all the boulders around the Twilight Archon fell in, as its shield gradually gave way.

And then its eyes widened in shock as a four metre long psi-blade shot out from somewhere behind him and sliced diagonally through its left shoulder, chest and out the right side of its waist.

"Gotcha !" an exclamation, followed by a few exhausted gasps.

The Twilight Archon's body convulsed, and the blue fire around it thickened, until its body was once again engulfed in a sphere of churning blue flames.

-

Zeratul felt his consciousness expand as it reached out beyond his body to touch everything around it. It crept along the marble floor and felt its smooth texture. It leapt through the air and embraced every dust particle drifting through it. It was aware of anything from the architecture of the hall down to the position of a particular molecule.

And as it spread over his surroundings like an invisible tide, everything it touched seemed to melt into one single fluid substance, until all around him there was nothing but endless black sea.

And he was but a wave on the surface of this infinite ocean, one with all, but still existing as a separate entity in form. And all forms were but manifestations of the one substance.

It was a wondrous feeling, to be merged into everything, realising that he existed as more than what his physical being represented.

And presently, he perceived two taller waves moving beside him, and as all three of them were one, as all things were one, he knew at once who they were.

"O Ancient Ones..."

The one closer to him replied.

_Do not bother with epithets.__Here you are not __First__ Born, I am not __Xel'Naga__. We are but thoughts within the Universal Mind._

"Is this what Khas meant ? To see beyond the illusion of material reality ?"

_Material or immaterial, all are real. All are one. This principle, even your Sage does not understand clearly, that's why he handed you over to me._

"But he taught the Judicators."

_It is one thing to theorise about the __Truth,__ it is another to experience it for oneself. The unenlightened will perceive the true Seer as mad._

"Aldaris saw the Truth towards the end of his life."

_He saw, but he was equally confused. __So long as we only identify with our physical selves, we are limited. We identified ourselves as __Xel'Naga__, exalted above all conscious beings, and so we were obsessed with perfection, not realising that there is no such thing as perfect or imperfect species, because all is one. You identified yourselves as Dark Templar, Templar, Judicator __or__Khalai__, and so __you viewed the other factions with distrust__, not realising that you are all the same._

"The Force, the Khala, the Void ... they all lead to the same thing."

_Yes, you are not just one with __your brethren, or one with all life. You are one with everything. You are a wave on the ocean of being. You are the water that makes up that wave. You are the energy that causes the wave to arise out of or sink back into the surface of the ocean._

"Thank you. Let us dive below the surface and merge further with our source."

_No, you are not ready to go deeper yet. You still have attachments to the physical world._

"I have." Zeratul sighed as the water around him stilled and crystallized into solid objects, or flowed back into him as his consciousness shrank down again.

_Go save your brethren._

His senses returned to him, and he felt the cracked marble floor beneath his feet.

He heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Zeratul ?"

Zeratul waited for his vision to resolve itself, and saw Kart, in tattered robes, the right side of which was soaked in blood, standing right in front of him, staring at him curiously.

"Kart ?"

Kart's face lit up, "Zeratul, you are back !"

Zeratul looked around him, and jerked his head in disbelief. The floor, and the walls was covered in craters of various sizes. Some of them sparked and steamed as their creation had resulted in torn electric cables and broken lighting. Large chunks of marble had been torn up from the floor and ceiling and heaped up in the corners. The ceiling was especially covered in precarious cracks, and as he stared, pieces of it fell off and hurtled towards the ground below. He leapt aside as one boulder shattered to pieces where he stood.

"You will explain yourselves before you go !"

Zeratul spun round and stared ahead at the source of the voice. It was Darth Sidious, approaching him from the far corner of the hall where he had collapsed unconscious as the spirit of T'nghal left his body.

Beside him walked Darth Maul, who glared angrily at Zeratul with murderous yellow eyes. "That was a dirty trick you tried on me, renegade Sith ! but the true Sith are not so easily put down !" Darth Maul advanced menacingly, and reached out an open palm, into which flew his lightsabre, which he switched on and pointed at Zeratul. "I shall kill you for that !"

"The bad guys just keep popping up, don't they ?" Kart stood beside Zeratul and raised his psi-sabre, now shortened to its normal length as he was no longer fighting desperately against a powerful adversary.

Zeratul put a hand on Kart's shoulder. "No."

"I can take him." Kart assured. "I am much stronger now."

"Yes, I know you are." Zeratul nodded. "but we don't have time."

Zeratul pulled Kart back just as another boulder smashed into the ground right in front of him.

"Holy Mother of the Force and the Void !" Kart exclaimed. "This place is coming down ! I need to get my sister." With that he turned and ran off to where Gaya lay.

"Ah, I remember." Darth Sidious chuckled and clapped his hands. "I remember !" He shook with hysterical, blood curdling laughter.

"Master, are you alright ?" Darth Maul asked, not out of genuine concern, but out of fear that the elder Sith might do something dangerous.

"So it has come to this ..." Darth Sidious shook his head. "To think, I believed I was in control of my own schemes."

The greater Sith Lord stared ahead at Zeratul with his piercing yellow eyes. "You !" he pointed a hand forward. "You engineered this !"

"Things are not as they seem, Sith Lord." Zeratul crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, amused at the Sith Lord's mad ramblings. The latter seemed to have mistaken the Grey Templar for T'nghal. Oh well, it would be interesting to play along. "And you call yourself Dark Lord of the Sith ? You are nothing but an old senile fool."

At this, Sidious's eyes widened so much that his gold irises seemed to glow. His skin was beyond pale and he trembled with rage. "You will pay for your insolence, creature." He held out his upraised hand in Zeratul and prepared to unleash, what the latter guessed was a 'high level' Sith Lightning. "Feel the wrath of the Sith !"

_One __psionic__storm,__ and he will shut up._ Zeratul called forth his psionic energies and directed them at the Sith Lord.

Nothing happened. Really, nothing happened. There was no psionic storm, and no Sith lightning either.

Darth Sidious stood perfectly still, like a statue. His arms did not wobble. His eyes stared ahead, unblinking. It almost seemed like the very air around him had been frozen solid as well.

And indeed it was. A brick size piece of marble dropped down and bounced off an invisible wall near the Sith Lord's head, and still the latter did not move. There was no spark or sizzle as there would be if the stone had hit a plasma shield. It just appeared to roll down an invisible solid surface onto the floor below.

Zeratul froze as well, in astonishment. If he had jaws they might have hung all the way to his chest.

Darth Maul looked at the immobile figure of his Master, and then stared back at Zeratul. "What have you done to him ?"

Zeratul took a moment to analyze the situation, then remembered that he was supposed to be playing the role of an evil Xel'Naga spirit. "You are unable to figure it out ? You are a fool too !"

Darth Maul roared, raised his light sabre and leapt up, somersaulting through the air towards Zeratul, weapon held out ready to slice the Grey Templar to pieces.

Immediately, Zeratul called upon focused his psionic energies at the charging Sith Lord, then leapt back himself in utter bewilderment. "By the gods, what is going on ?"

Darth Maul had been frozen still,

in mid air.

His robes had ceased their flapping. The falling stones and dust around him stopped drifting and tumbling about, and instead hung suspended perfectly still in their current position.

It appeared like what the Terrans would call a freeze frame. Only, this time it was not a captured image. The object itself had ceased all motion.

A perfect stasis.

"Come on, Zeratul, let's go !"

Zeratul turned to see Kart carrying Gaya in his arms and heading towards the exit of the hall.

"Yes, let us make haste." Dodging falling rocks and portholes, Zeratul swiftly caught up with Kart.

As they stepped out of the hall, Zeratul suddenly felt a sharp unbearable pain shoot through this chest. He fell to his knees and took quick shallow breaths. He looked down and saw blue mist gushing out from a large gash in his chest. Yes, the stab wound. Now he remembered.

"Zeratul !" Kart put Gaya down on the floor and rushed to Zeratul's side.

"Go without me." Zeratul muttered. "This body of mine has expired. I have to discard it now."

"No ... no ! Don't say that ! You are going to make it !" Kart was about to bend down to help Zeratul up, but the latter waved a hand at him.

"I have told you, this is a threshold I have to cross." Zeratul's face settled in a calm expression. "I ... die free."

Kart watched on helplessly, then in amazement, as the blue flames turned green, and belched out of Zeratul's wound in massive torrents, engulfing the Grey Templar, Kart, and Gaya behind him ...

-

_Master Yoda …_

"Hmm… you …"

_Time and space mean nothing …_

"Right you are…"

_It can be bent …_

"Be bent it can …"

_It can be traversed …._

"Be crossed it can …"

_You are my anchor …_

Jedi Master Yoda abruptly opened his eyes and felt for the presence that had called out for him.

As if in response, it seemed to shift right in front of him from somewhere far, far away, at the speed of thought.

Yet no one had entered the room. Not even Mace Windu. Yoda preferred to meditate alone, and his colleagues knew that.

Before him there was only the floor. And on the middle of this floor, something sparkled a lime green. It soon grew into a green flame, which blew up until it almost filled the whole room, like a pile of copper was being burnt in its middle.

Yoda held up a hand to shield his eyes from the green glare. As he did so, the fire began to shrink and swirl, like it was being vacuumed back into the middle of the room . Solid shadows condensed within it.

Where there was only bare marble floor, the withdrawing flames revealed a young human woman in black robes. She had red hair and her face was tattooed. She lay unconscious on the floor.

And then, behind her, stood a young man in brown robes, also with red hair, holding a light sabre with an unusual looking blade, and staring into the receding fire.


	13. A New Beginning

**A New Beginning**

"You are taking this rather well."

"She is doing fine, so the physicians say." Kart tore his gaze from the tank, and the unconscious young woman lying suspended in the clear healing fluid within, and looked at the figure who stood behind him.

Zeratul appeared as he always had, wrapped in his black and red cloth, his grey cape and turban, his bone white gauntlets.

There was, however, one glaring difference. Zeratul's eyes now glowed lime green, rather than blue or orange. Also, parts of his body blurred, wavered or went transparent, and then became clear again, like a faulty projection trying hard to appear tangible. He was there physically, but one could tell that he was fast slipping beyond the confines of material reality.

"What does your Master say ?"

"The usual elder Jedi philosophy thing." Kart shrugged. "'She is a fortunate child. So are you, Kart'" He tried to imitate Master Farid's stern expression, then chuckled as he realized that it was inappropriate. He pushed his fingers through his hair and grinned, realizing again that his padawan braid was no longer there.

"He also told me, that Gaya kicked him to save him from the droidekas." Kart smiled as he looked back down at the sleeping figure of his sister. "I knew it."

Zeratul nodded. "She fought to protect."

"In the Sith … headquarter, she could have cut me in half, but she only hurt me enough to cause pain." Kart continued. "She wanted me to defeat her."

"Your desire to protect each other pushed you beyond your mentally defined limits." Zeratul nodded again. "On the other hand, T'nghal faltered when he realised that he had underestimated you. The power of his will was dampened by doubt, and he was unprepared for your final blow." Zeratul thought about the other taller wave that he had seen as he was immersed in the Ocean of Being, and wondered if it wasn't T'nghal, being of the same class of entities as Enri, and likely just as wise, who pretended to be killed. "That, and the fact that the creation of a true Archon requires the merger of two templar. T'nghal made the mistake of summoning the most powerful of Archons with my body alone, and thus ran out of psionic energy before he could kill you."

"Man, you really should tell me all that you know before we go to battle next time. If you had not imparted me the technique for creating Hallucinations in time, I might really have been killed." Then Kart jerked his head up as he recalled something. "Zeratul, do you know where their headquarters were ?"

"No. I was lost the moment we realized the structure was collapsing." Zeratul shook his head. "How we even escaped that accursed place, I am still not certain."

"Guess so." Kart whistled. "What's going to happen to you now ?"

"We'll see." Zeratul looked down at his right hand, and tried to concentrate his energies onto his open palm. A glowing lime green haze condensed on his palm. A few loose cables and tubings lying around the room suddenly whipped up as if reaching for the luminescent green cloud in his hand. Before they could crash into him, his figure blurred out of sight. The flying debris halted for a few seconds in midair, before dropping back onto the ground again.

"This is something new for me. Perhaps I'll understand it better in the future." Kart heard Zeratul's voice from behind him at the same time that he felt the abrupt shift of air along his side and over his back.

"The future." Kart asked,"What do you plan to do now that this is over ?"

"I will carry on with my search for answers. I must do this. For my people." Zeratul answered. With that, the eery glow in his eyes flared up, and the surface of his skin rippled in agitation. Immediately, he tugged in his robes more tightly around his body to prevent it from dissipating. This appearance that he had taken now, was but an expression of his determination to finish what he started as a mortal. Sooner or later, his psionic pulse would run out, and he would be forced to depart from the physical plane and be one with the Ocean of Being. Hopefully by then, his quest would finally be over, and the survival of the Protoss would no longer be under threat.

Still, he had survived, in a sense, and now he seemed to have gained insights and abilities he never imagined he could possess. His mood lightened as he thought of the interesting new possibilities he could explore.

"So begins another leg of the Grey Templar's journey." Kart quipped, turning around and smiling in relieve to find Grey Templar still in one piece, though slightly exhausted. "And mine too. You know, when I saw Enri burn up right before my eyes, so did a lot of other things. For a while I felt lost. He was like an uncle to me. However, I also felt an overwhelming exhilaration.

It was then that I realized my days as a Jedi Padawan was finally over. I had become something else, no longer just watching as my homeworld gets torched by a superweapon, or following my Master around in his missions, or reciting Jedi principles while my sister turns to the Dark Side …, but actively taking control of my own fate."

"So have I." Zeratul added. "This is a new beginning for both of us."

THE END

_Blossom, wither, blossom, wither,_

_Years and months long as a river,_

_A myth is a splash of water,_

_A myth is a drop of tear._

_You are in the gather and scatter,_

_I am in the gather and scatter,_

_You and I are but hurried trespassers._

_Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset,_

_Years and months long as a ballad,_

_A drop of bitter wine is a book of history,_

_A drop of boiling blood is an engraved memory._

_You are in the calling,_

_I am in the calling,_

_Happiness, anger, grief and joy, are in the singing._

_Behold the vast smoke and waves through the ages !_

_Swiftly flows the dream's images !_

_My dream beseeches ! My dream beseeches !_

_Swiftly flows the dream's images ! My dream beseeches !_

_Hear the people sing softly through the generations !_

_In the end there's only the spirits' motions !_

_The spirits' legends ! The spirits legends !_

_In the end there's only the spirits' motions ! The spirits' legends !_

Modified from theme song of 1990 TV series 'The God List'.

-

( Ah, finally done. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Once again, thank you GreyPezzola for your continued support, and all other readers and reviewers as well.

Look forward to GT3, which would probably come after I have played SC2, or when I get tired of waiting again.

No prizes for guessing what Protoss units Zeratul's new powers are based on.

Have a good day/night.

-Star )


End file.
